Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings are gold medalists for a third consecutive Olympics.
In an All-American final, the former Long Beach State star and her longtime partner on the sand defeated April Ross and Jennifer Kessy 21-16 and 21-16 to win back-to-back-to-back gold medals. They are the first in history to accomplish the feat.
It was a long road back to the Olympics for May-Treanor and Walsh-Jennings, who were undefeated in matches and hadn’t lost a single set in the Olympics until earlier in this year’s tournament. The duo struggled initially with the fear of letting each other down, but after spending some time with a sports psychologist, they eased back into their now familiar routine of dominating opponents on the international stage.
May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings cruised through the group round, defeating pairs from Australia, Austria and the Czech Republic. They then swept a Danish pair in the round of 16, crushed a pair from Italy in the quarterfinals and sealed their trip to the gold medal match on Monday with a win over a highly-ranked duo from China.
The United States won the top two medals for the first time in beach volleyball Olympic history this year. It will likely be the last time May-Treanor and Walsh-Jennings compete on the world’s biggest stage.