Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh defeated a tough Chinese team to win the gold medal in Olympic Beach Volleyball.
By Sarah J Murray
Published: August 21, 2008
On Thursday morning, Chaoyang Park in Beijing played host to an all-around East-meets-West extravaganza at the women’s beach volleyball gold medal game. Despite silty skies and armored guards, the sell-out crowd thumped with beach-party energy as Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh battled against the Chinese team of Tian Jia and Wang Jie.
Technically, Tian and Wang entered the Olympic Games as the top seed in the tournament. Although May-Treanor and Walsh are the top-ranked team in the world, an FIVB rule gives the top Olympic seed to a team from the host country if it finishes among the top six in Olympic qualifying points.
The match had the makings of an upset – miserable weather, a boisterous hometown crowd, and a team that, if the conditions were perfect, had the capacity to break the American’s 108-game winning streak. Coming into the final, the Chinese team of Tian and Wang had twice defeated May-Treanor and Walsh with the all-time record at 5-2 favoring the Americans.
The first point of the match was won by the Americans, with Kerri Walsh putting up a monster block on Wang, seemingly sending a message that Walsh and May-Treanor were ready to defend their title. The first set continued back-and-forth, tied at 8s, 10s, 16s until the Americans pulled ahead at the end to win the it 21-18.
The duo carried the momentum into the second half, but Wang and Tian weren’t about to bow out. With both teams displaying heroic acrobatics, the set was tied again at 8s, 10s, and 14s. After consecutive points by May-Treanor and Walsh, the Chinese began to show signs of despair, sitting on the ground and dropping their heads after lost points. The Americans capitalized on the pair’s mistakes at the net and with a commanding finale, spiked the last ball to win the set 21-17 and the match.
With the win, May-Treanor and Walsh became the first Olympic beach volleyball team to win back-to-back gold medals. Leading up to the Games in Beijing, May-Treanor and Walsh had won an unprecedented 18 tournaments – an AVP and international record.
Beyond the numbers, May-Treanor and Walsh proved once again to be the masters of pulling off wins in close matches. Earlier in the tournament, they worked their way out of five set points in their match against Belgium's Liesbet Van Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha, the Americans faced five set points in the first set. They muscled through and advanced to the quarterfinals, winning 24-22 in the clutch.
May-Treanor and Walsh have not lost a match in a little over one year. Their last loss on August 17, 2007 came at the hands of fellow Olympians Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh at the AVP Boston Open.
Will May-Treanor and Walsh be back for a potential three-peat in 2012 in London? They haven’t ruled it out and don’t dare speak of retirement just yet. However, both women are planning on taking some time away from volleyball following the Games to have children.