Defending champions Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor won Olympic gold in women’s beach volleyball Wednesday, beating fellow Americans Jennifer Kessy and April Ross in the final.
It was an unprecedented third-straight Olympic beach volleyball gold for Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor, who danced on the sand in celebration at Horse Guard’s Parade after winning match point.
Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor made up for their slower serves with a calmer defence and a more pointed attack than their rivals, who took silver on their Olympic debut.
The final score was 21-16, 21-16.
Earlier in the day, Brazil’s duo of Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva won Olympic bronze, beating China’s Xue Chen and Zhang Xi in a three-set thriller.
Franca and Silva, the reigning Olympic champions, battled back from a first-set thrashing to scrape a 2-1 win.
