Americans
winning gold in any event is a big deal.
However, when two American teams go up against each other for an Olympic
Gold that is something that has never happened. However, in the sport of beach volleyball that is exactly
what is happening today at 4pm.
Wednesday’s
gold medal, women’s beach volleyball match is historic before it even starts.
The
4 p.m. ET showdown between the teams of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh
Jennings and Jennifer Kessy and April Ross marks the first time that an Olympic
final has pitted one American duo against another.
If
May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings triumph, they’ll become the sport’s first team
to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympics and secure their status as the
greatest of all time.
If
underdogs Kessy and Ross upset the legends, they’ll become America’s -- and
perhaps the world’s – new top team.
No
matter the result, the match will illustrate America’s continued dominance in
the sport, which was born on the sands of Southern California and became an
Olympic sport in 1996. Since then, U.S. teams have won five of eight gold
medals in the men’s and women’s divisions.
Expect
an inordinate amount of “USA!” chants on the makeshift beach at London’s Horse
Guards Parade.
Heading
into the Olympics, Mary-Treanor/Walsh Jennings were ranked third in the world,
and beat the number-two team, Zhang Xi/Xue Chen of China in straight sets to reach the gold-medal match. Kessy/Ross were
ranked fourth, and beat the top-seeded team, Larissa Franca and Juliana
Fellberta Silva of Brazil, in a comeback thriller.
The
Brazilians won the bronze medal match in three sets over the Chinese early
Wednesday.
When
the gold-medal match concludes, it will mark the end of an era. May-Treanor
plans to retire afterward, breaking up an 11-year partnership and leaving Walsh
Jennings, a mother of two, looking for another teammate.
Perhaps
she has more history-making in her.
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