Athens Olympics 2004

[img_assist|fid=1433|thumb=0|alt=August 18, 2004, Prosser and Williams vs Canada [Credit: Yahoo! News]|class=image-legacy] Over two fantastic weeks, all the Australian volleyball teams performed above their world rankings. Unfortunately, none of them won medals, but they can certainly all be proud of their performances in Athens.

The Volleyball Team Australia Men (VTAM), world's number 20, began the Olympics strongly against world number 1 Brazil on August 15. The Australians won a close first set before going down in four. Channel 7 even showed parts of the match live as it looked like the Australians might cause a major upset. But the Brazilians came back strongly to comfortably take the match 3:1 (23-25 25-19 25-12 25-21).

[img_assist|fid=1436|thumb=0|alt=August 15, 2004, Australia wins point against Brazil. [Credit: FIVB]|class=image-legacy]
Australia wins point against Brazil. August 15, 2004. [Credit: FIVB]

The Australian beach volleyballers also got off to an excellent start in Athens. Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson, Kerri Pottharst and Summer Lochowicz, and Julien Prosser and Mark Williams all won their first round matches on the opening weekend. Josh Slack and Andrew Schacht however lost their first match to USA pair Daxton Holdren and Stein Metzger.

The MU Renegades men's teams finished training early on Tuesday night, August 17, to watch the VTAM take on Russia in their second match. Thanks to SBS Television, we'd already seen more indoor volleyball on Australian telelvision than ever before and we were only half way through the first week of the Games. It was great to see a good crowd at Naughton's watching and cheering (maybe louder than the small crowd that was actually at the stadium). Unfortunately, Dave Beard served out just when it looked like the Australians might win a set (and go on to take the match?!). After two losses, it was starting to look difficult for the Australian team to make the quarter finals. Although, it was always going to be a tough ask with the team drawn in a pool in which every other country has won gold medals at past Olympics or been world champions.

[img_assist|fid=1439|thumb=0|alt=Australian captain, Dan Howard, diving for the ball against Russia. [Credit: FIVB]|class=image-legacy]
Australian captain, Dan Howard, diving for the ball against Russia. August 17, 2004. [Credit: FIVB]

Thanks to our very own Jake Avent (well, I'm sure he at least did a bit of nagging about how great volleyball is), Channel 7 showed Australia versus Italy in the volleyball on August 19. The VTAM were well and truly outplayed though by the eventual silver medalists, defeated in straight sets (20-25, 18-25, 21-25). Despite three aces from Zane Christensen and a total of 10 shutout blocks by the Australians during the match, Sartoretti and Papi for the Italians were too good, consistently spiking winners from around the court. Indeed, the Australians only managed 32/85 successful spikes in total.

[img_assist|fid=1442|thumb=0|alt=Ben Hardy spiking against Italy and Hidde van Beest spiking against Brazil. [Credit: FIVB]|class=image-legacy]
Ben Hardy spiking against Italy and Hidde van Beest spiking against Brazil. [Credit: FIVB]

On Saturday, August 21, the Australian men came up against the USA, a team they would have fancied their chances against. But it was another case of lost opportunities for the VTAM, winning the second set but eventually losing in four (19-25, 25-23, 13-25, 19-25). Zane Christensen enjoyed a fantastic match winning 20 points, but 25 errors by the Australians told the story. Australian libero, Travis Moran, said after the match, "we are very disappointed because we lost two very important matches, which were the keys for our qualification to the quarterfinals. The US played very well, especially in the third set."

[img_assist|fid=1445|thumb=0|alt=Russian players out of bounds trying to save the ball against Australia. [Credit: FIVB]|class=image-legacy]
Russian players out of bounds trying to save the ball against Australia. [Credit: FIVB]

The Netherlands were the Australian's final opponents in the preliminary rounds. In front of just over 4,000 spectators, the Dutch team showed their strength for a comfortable straight sets victory (25-22, 25-17, 25-16). If the first touch is important, then it is no wonder The Netherlands won, out-serving Australia with six service-aces to only one. Australian middle blocker, Luke Campbell, summed up the tournament after the match, "our goal was to qualify for the quarterfinals, but obviously we did not make it. When we lost to USA, we missed the opportunity to move on in this tournament. The participation in the Athens Olympic Games was very important for us, however our team is very young and next time we hope that we will have better performance. In my opinion, the teams which will probably qualify at the second round are not the best of the tournament; our pool was very difficult, included strong teams, that could have been at the quarterfinals."

[img_assist|fid=1448|thumb=0|alt=Lochowicz and Pottharst celebrate their win over China. August 14, 2004. [Credit: Yahoo!]|class=image-legacy]
Lochowicz and Pottharst celebrate their win over China. August 14, 2004. [Credit: Yahoo!]

The Australian beach volleyballers continued to do well, with both a men's and women's team through to the semi-finals in the second week. The Australian men's pair, Julien Prosser and Mark Williams, performed above expectations to defeat Germans Dieckmann/Scheuerpflug 2:1 in their quarter-final. They then faced Spanish team Javier Bosma/Pablo Herrera in the semis. And the Australian women's pairing of Nat Cook and Nicole Sanderson were also taken to three sets before defeating Italians Lucilla Perrotta and Daniela Gattelli. They had their work cut out for them though in the semis, up against world number 1 pair from Brazil, Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede.

[img_assist|fid=1451|thumb=0|alt=Nicole Sanderson ready to serve. August 14, 2004. [Credit: Yahoo!]|class=image-legacy]
Nicole Sanderson ready to serve. August 14, 2004. [Credit: Yahoo!]

Natalie Cook's shoulder injury got progressively worse during the tournament and she and Nicole Sanderson were convincingly beaten by the Brazillians in the semi-final 2:0 (21-17, 21-16). Cook's lack of power from her injured shoulder showed in the maximum serving speeds of each player, Cook at just 46 km/h while Sanderson reached 72 km/h and Shelda Bede 74 km/h.

[img_assist|fid=1454|thumb=0|alt=Nat Cook digging during the bronze medal match against USA. [Credit: Yahoo!]|class=image-legacy]
Nat Cook digging during the bronze medal match against USA. [Credit: Yahoo!]

Julien Prosser and Mark Williams also lost their semi-final in straight sets (18-21, 18-21) against the Spanish team of Bosma and Herrera. Interestingly, neither team went for powerful jump serves, and the top service speed for the match was 63 km/h by Williams.

[img_assist|fid=1457|thumb=0|alt=Nat Cook lying injured after losing the bronze to USA. [Credit: Yahoo!]|class=image-legacy]
Nat Cook lying injured after losing the bronze to USA. [Credit: Yahoo!]

Nat Cook was looking for second straight Olympic medal, having won gold in Sydney, but it was not to be. Up against USA pair Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs, the Australians looked good after levelling the match at one set all with a 25-15 in the second. But as Cook's shoulder deteriorated to the point where she could only serve underarm, the USA pulled away to win the bronze (18-25, 25-15, 9-15). The Australian women were in a reflective mood after the match: Natalie Cook on the game: "The one ball I turned inside out was too strong. I hurt my shoulder and it was really painful. We just had to stay together and stay stable. It was very disappointing. Sanderson was great out there and supported me. I am going to have a rest and my get my shoulder fixed and come back in Pekino."; Nicole Sanderson on the match: "I am disappointed. I am sorry we lost. Cook has been brave out there and I don't feel that I was compensating her tonight. She gave me good passes and I never felt that I was in big trouble. We will stay together and we will work as a team and enjoy."

Julien Prosser and Mark Willaims faced Swiss pair Stefan Kobel and Patrick Heuscher in their bronze medal match. In a great match, the Australians eventually went down by the closest of margins (25-19, 17-25, 13-15). Both the Australians were disappointed after the match, Prosser saying "I feel devastated", and Mark Williams, "I am obviously disappointed because this is the Olympic Games. I thought we had a chance to win, especially after the first set."

[img_assist|fid=1460|thumb=0|alt=Swiss team celebrate after defeating Prosser and Williams for bronze. [Credit: Yahoo!]|class=image-legacy]
Swiss team celebrate after defeating Prosser and Williams for bronze. [Credit: Yahoo!]

So, the Olympics are over for another four years. Thanks to SBS Television and Channel 7 for showing so much volleyball. Never before in Australia's history has the sport received so much media coverage and people who'd never seen international volleyball before were excited and wanting to know more. We look forward to even greater success in Beijing in 2008.