Magical day for Brazil on the beach and water

– Brazil’s duo Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt today defeated Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo 2-0 to win Brazil’s first gold in beach volleyball in 12 years. However the Brazilian men lost in the gold medal match to Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann.

Just a week ago, Alison Cerutti went down in a heap, and Rio held its collective breath with Brazil’s biggest beach volleyball star seemingly felled by a sprained ankle in his preliminary match against Italy’s other pairing of Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Ignacio Carambula Raurich.

The only blemish on Team Ludwig/Walkenhorst’s Copacabana chronicle was a 21-18 second set setback to Laura Giombini and Marta Menegatti of Italy in a “meaningless” Pool D match won by the Germans 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 15-9) in 51 minutes. In the second, Brazil trailed by three before scoring 11 of the next 15 points to take a 19-15 lead.

Alison delivered his sixth block on the game-winner, knocking it off Lupo for the first of what the referee ruled were four touches – one too many. The Italians questioned the call, but by the time the score hit the scoreboard the Brazilian athletes were already in the stands. They’ve caught fire since then, winning three straight to ensure a medal at the Rio Games.

“We tried everything to win the game”, Nicolai said.

As he has throughout the tournament, Alison egged on the crowd, pointing to his ear to encourage fans to yell louder after the Brazilians rallied from the early deficit.

Brazil’s public has shown signs of ambivalence toward the Olympics but the country can now celebrate a fifth gold medal, sealed at its most famous beach.

The European champions looked like the stronger duo early in the second set of the midnight match, but once again Brazil rallied to claim gold with a 21-17 second set scoreline.

Although the Italians’ run ended in heartbreaking fashion, they earned a silver medal that few expected.

Brouwer and Meeuwsen appeared unfazed at their first Olympics, using a clinical attack to prevail 23-21 22-20. “Of course, it’s where the sport was invented”.

“That first set they were leading but even when we were behind we kept fighting, kept playing aggressive and taking a lot of risk and I think we were rewarded”, Brouwer said.