MEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL
LONDON OLYMPICS PREVIEW
Return engagement P
by Jon Hastings
Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers enter the beach volleyball competition in London with a chance to become the fi rst repeat men’s Olympic beach gold medalists
hil Dalhausser says he “got into his own head” at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the gold medal he and
partner Todd Rogers captured in beach vol- leyball came with a price. “It was defi nitely mentally stressful because the Olympics is its own animal,” Dalhausser said. “You are playing matches every other day and we’re not used to that type of down time. We have prepared physi- cally much the same way we did in 2008, but mentally we’re in a much better place. The experience of having been there before and having success is huge for us.” That place is on top of the beach volley- ball world and winners of 17 of 33 FIVB Tour events since they beat Brazil’s Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes for the gold medal in Beijing four years ago. The 6-9 Dalhausser, 32, has hit his prime
and is generally regarded as a fi ve-tool (blocking, setting, hitting, serving, passing) superhero in the world of beach volleyball. Rogers, meanwhile, is six years older and has staved off Father Time long enough to still be considered an elite defender and a dependable side-out avenger against the large predators who guard the net on the FIVB Beach Vol- leyball Swatch World Tour.
Dalhausser and Rogers are nearly assured of entering the Olympic Games in London as the second seed after playing a sparse early
“I still think if Phil and I are both on, there is no team that can beat us.” Todd Rogers
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season tournament schedule. They opened the year with victories in Brazil and China but missed opportunities to earn the top seed for the Olympics by skipping events in Poland, Czech Republic, Russia and Italy. The numbers the last three seasons reveal they are a safer bet to win than Tiger Woods in a major or Roger Federer in a Grand Slam (more than a 60 percent winning percentage in their last 25 starts), but they admit the gap is not as pronounced as it was in 2010 when they won nine of 12 FIVB events. “There are at least 15 teams out there who can beat us and you really couldn’t consider it a big upset,” said Rogers, who had knee sur- gery last October but says he is 100 percent. “The size of the players on the FIVB Tour keeps getting bigger, and they are starting with more skills as well.”
Rogers pointed to the two Brazilian teams,
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