Championship victory after Olympic shame: Beach duo in tears after ‘unbelievable’ coup

Monday 11 October 2021

Championship victory after the Olympic stigma
Beach duo cry after ‘unbelievable’ coup

It’s a totally unexpected victory: Carla Burger and Julia Sood win the Beach Volleyball World Tour Final. Her season was marked by disasters: after an early exit from the Olympics, she left her coach. But then all of a sudden things just go uphill.

Carla Burger and Julia Sood held trophy winners to snap a selfie into their cell phone camera in disbelief. The two beach volleyball players did not immediately understand that they had already won the prestigious final of the World Tour. Two months after the totally realistic Olympics in Tokyo, they achieved the biggest success of their careers in Cagliari, Italy. A $150,000 (just under €130,000) bonus was added at the end of the season.

“It was a huge honor for us to qualify here for the World Tour Final. And now we are standing here on the sand with the trophy in our hands. Unbelievable,” said 32-year-old Burger. from his eyes. Winning the world’s top ten championship was very emotional for the duo from Stuttgart, who are competing with DJK TuSA 06 Düsseldorf.

“We’ve had a tough season,” Sodi said, remembering the Olympics in Japan. At the height of the season, the experienced team had big plans, but then failed in the preliminary round. One day after the end, former coach Thomas Kashmarek ended the collaboration. Without a real coach and with only a sports psychologist on site, there was a surprising bronze at the European Championships in Vienna, a silver at the German Championships and now an overall victory in the World Tour final.

“Try not to think too much.”

“After the disappointment in Tokyo, we decided to focus more on ourselves, to find each other in the sand again,” said the 34-year-old. Borrower, Who took her gold medal to sleep on Sunday and posted it on Twitter“We tried not to think too much. Just keep thinking about the next point,” he added after the Sovereign 2-0 (21:13, 23:21) in the final against Canadians Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes.

It worked perfectly. “They beat the Olympic and world champions on their way to gold and worked hard for that title at the end of a difficult season,” said German Volleyball Federation President Rene Hecht: “An incredible success for the team and for German beach volleyball. . . “

Burger/Sudi is the third German women’s duo to win the gold medal since the competition began six years ago. In 2016 and 2017, the Olympic champions in Rio, Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, succeeded in 2019, as Ludwig won with her new partner Margarita Kosoch.