Germans Brink/Reckermann win gold medal of men's beach volleyball

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The Germans won the match by 23-21, 16-21,16-14 in the fully-packed Horse Guard Parade, central London, which brought the duo their, and the Europe's first Olympic gold medal.

"The first set was pretty close, from the beginning to the end," Reckermann said. "In the second the Brazilians played great and we had trouble siding out. In the third we went point by point and then at 14-11 we lost three match points and we said 'stop, not this time'. It is unbelievable, there was so much pressure."

"It's great for European beach volleyball. It's great that we were the ones who won the gold. I hope it will bring up our sport in Europe," he said.

Both undefeated to sail into the final, the two duos met eight times already in international matches with the Brazilian's leading 5-3 including winning the last four straight. In their most recent meeting, the Brazilians came from behind to win in Moscow.

The Germans, however, were in a better shape in London with less errors and a thorough³ exhibition of their blocking skills. The Brazilians made eight service faults, while the Germans two.

The opener was never so tight in the tournament as the two pairs tie to 21-all. Brazilian Rego spiked⁴ out of sideline to give the Germans the set point, which the Germans grabbed⁵ to win 23-21.

The top-seeded Brazilians showed their quality at the second set to dominate⁶ the court, when their powerful service posed⁷ a huge threat for the rivals' reception. They quickly build a lead 10-7. Rego, a five-time Olympian, found his form at the back of the court, while Alison was his usual powerful presence at the net. The Germans saved one set point, but a Brink service error allowed the Brazilians to draw level.

The teams continued to push each other hard from the start of the third set. Germany grabbed the initiative⁸ and built up a four-point lead. The Brazilians saved three match points to draw level at 14-14, but the Germans immediately gained another and when Rego's shot dropped wide, it gave the Germans the win and the gold medal.

"Both teams deserved the gold medal, but winning the silver medal is a great motivation for our country towards the next Olympic Games in Rio," said Rego.

The 39-year-old is competing in his fifth consecutive⁹ Olympic Games with a gold medal in Athens and bronze medal in Beijing by playing with Ricardo Santos, while it is the first for the 26-year-old Cerutti.

On whether he will compete for another Olympic gold medal at the homeland four years later, he said, "I don't know if I will be in shape still, no one has played an Olympics at that age."

Disappointed as he is, Cerutti, the younger partner of the Brazilian duo, said the silver medal still meant a lot to Cerutti, though he had complains for the rule of Rego's last shot.

"They (the Germans) deserved the win. But the last ball, we believed it's in (the court), and at least they (the referees) should came to have a look, but they didn't," Cerutti said.

"But the silver medal is great too. I will share it with all the Brazilian people. It belongs to my country," he said.

Earlier, Latvia's Janis Smedins and Martins Plavins rallied¹⁰ back to beat Netherlands' Richard Schuil and Reinder Nummerdor to win the bronze medal.

The victory earned Latvia' s first medal of London. Latvia's President Andris Berzins called the pair to extend his congratulations.

"He said we are young and that we have a big future," said Smedins."He wished us well for the future and said he's very happy for us.

"We saw a Latvian (Ineta Radevica) finish fourth in the long jump last night and she missed bronze by a few centimeters. We knew we had one more chance to win a medal for Latvia. We don't get too many medals for Latvia, so there was a lot of pressure," he said.

"To win a medal is easy, but an Olympic medal is different. It's too heavy," he said.

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