Olympic notes: Ross receives her third Olympic medal; U.S. women volleyballers in gold medal match

TOKYO — April Ross won the Olympic gold medal that completes her set, and when she stood on the top step of the podium at the Shiokaze Park beach volleyball venue on Friday she had with her the perfect person to hang it around her neck: teammate Alix Klineman.

"I know that was a product of COVID, but it actually feels really special when you’re up there," said Ross, who received her third Olympic medal from her third Olympic partner after a masked IOC official presented it on a tray because of pandemic protocols.

"I was like, ‘We get to award the medals to each other,’ " said Ross, who won silver in London and bronze in Rio de Janeiro. "In my head, I was thinking, ’Thank you, Alix.' "

Playing in 92-degree Fahrenheit temperatures — the U.S. TV broadcast said it felt like 129 Fahrenheit on the sand — the Americans beat Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy of Australia, 21-15, 21-16, in 43 minutes.

In the bronze-medal match earlier Friday, Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland cruised to a straight-set victory over Latvia.

Klineman, a first-time Olympian, never let her new prize out of her grasp while talking to reporters. She said she had watched individual sports, where winners put their medals around their own necks, and was excited when she realized she could do that for Ross after working four years together to get to the Olympics and then win it all.

"I feel like we’ve both just tried to support each other and give this partnership as much as we have," she said. "And so it was a really special moment."

Artacho del Solar said the four-year qualification process that stretched into five because of the pandemic was a struggle.

"Nothing was easy. These weren’t handed to us," she said.

The silver for Australia was its first beach volleyball medal since Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst took gold on Bondi Beach in 2000. But they were never really close against the Americans, who tied for the top spot in the Olympic qualification points race and lost only one set in seven matches in Tokyo.

Klineman and Ross needed 20 minutes to claim the first set. They fell behind 2-0 in the second before scoring 10 straight points to pull away.

That silenced the chants of "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!" from the Australians in their bright yellow shirts and brought out the cheers of "U-S-A!" from those in the red, white and blue. It was the biggest crowd yet at Shiokaze Park — about 60 people in the temporary stadium that seats 9,600.

With so few fans in attendance, Ross said, the cheering felt "more personal."

"We’re just really grateful that the Olympics happened," Ross said. "We were definitely embracing whatever atmosphere was there. It meant a lot to me to hear our delegation start chanting ‘U-S-A!’ against the Aussie cheer. It felt more personal, but we still felt the gravity of the match and how big it was."

U.S. women to play for gold in volleyball

U.S. volleyball star Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson woke up with a vision that her team was poised to make it back to the gold-medal game.

Five years after Akinradewo Gunderson could only watch the end of a crushing five-set loss to Serbia in the Olympic semifinals because of an injured knee, she helped lead her team one step closer to the ultimate prize.

Akinradewo Gunderson provided key blocks at the net, her best attacking match of the tournament and emotion to help the United States make it to the gold-medal match for the fourth time ever by avenging a 2016 semifinal loss to Serbia with a 25-19, 25-15, 25-23 victory Friday.

"I just felt it," Akinradewo Gunderson said. "I just felt trust in our group. It was just a feeling I had. Actually I’ve never felt that before, to be honest. But this morning I woke up and I was like: ‘We’re going to do this. We’re going to get it done.’ I’m glad that came to fruition."

The Americans easily dispatched the team that denied them a chance at their elusive first gold medal in Rio de Janeiro. They advanced to the gold-medal match against Brazil, which beat South Korea in straight sets in the other semifinal.

Serbia will play South Korea for the bronze after beating the United States in five sets in Rio, a loss that haunted American players and staff.

"It wasn’t like, ‘Oh we have to get redemption of this or that,' " Akinradewo Gunderson said. "It was we just want to win a gold medal and whatever that’s going to take, we’re going to do that."

The U.S. played from ahead for most of the match thanks to a strong serving performance by Akinradewo Gunderson to open the game.

The Americans earned nine set points in the opening frame, when Jordan Larson scored on a block at the net. After squandering its first four chances, the U.S. took the set on a kill by Akinradewo Gunderson, whose knee injury five years ago against Serbia contributed to the loss.

Akinradewo Gunderson let out a scream after winning the second set with a block at the net and came up with another key block late in the third.

Larson then won it with a kill that Serbia couldn’t return and fell to her knees in celebration as her teammates poured onto the court.

Larson and Akinradewo Gunderson are three-time Olympians who have played major roles in the success of the Americans the past decade. Now with their international careers likely nearing the end, they have one more shot at the prize that has eluded them.

It would make all the work they put in during the coronavirus pandemic pay off, after working out in their garages and building team chemistry through monthly Zoom calls with a performance coach.

"I don’t know if I’ve come to words yet on the how to express it, but like Foluke said, we put in a lot of work off the court and it’s paying dividends now," Larson said. "We committed to that as a team. You’re seeing that now. You’re seeing it pay off and that all those conversations that happened a year and a half ago when everything was shut down, this is for it."

Cubans make mark in boxing

Only six fighters had won gold medals in two weight classes in Olympic boxing before a trio of polished Cuban veterans joined the club over the past four days in Tokyo.

Julio Cesar La Cruz, Roniel Iglesias and Arlen Lopez showed the Cuban domination of this Olympic discipline is far from finished, no matter how much the game changes around them.

La Cruz capped the trifecta on Friday with a clear victory over Russian heavyweight Muslim Gadzhimagomedov, putting on a defensive masterclass in his 5-0 win.

La Cruz added the Tokyo heavyweight title to his light heavyweight gold from Rio de Janeiro. His two-time teammates also moved up one weight class from their previous championship divisions to claim their second golds.

An extraordinary feat has been made common by these three Cuban stars, and they’re aware of the importance of their achievements in their nation’s decorated boxing history.

"We have great talent in our ranks, so we’re confident," La Cruz said through a translator. "We just have to prepare, train hard and focus on the objective."

Amateur boxing has changed significantly from the sport that the Cuban teams dominated through long stretches of the past half century. The Tokyo field contained more than 40 boxers with professional experience, and the overall skill level seems remarkably high throughout most of the weight classes.

But Cuba’s indefatigable program can add a fourth gold from Tokyo when lightweight Andy Cruz meets Keyshawn Davis of the impressive U.S. team Sunday in the final competition session.

Only two Cubans had won medals at three Olympics before Iglesias and three-time bronze medalist Lazaro Alvarez doubled the size of that club over the past week.

Lopez, the middleweight champ in Rio, then succeeded La Cruz as the light heavyweight champion in Tokyo, while Iglesias claimed gold in his second try at welterweight after winning at light welterweight nine years ago in London.

"Right now we have a group of athletes that have been working together for 11 years," La Cruz said. "Starting in London 2012, our team has only lost one final. In Rio we won three [gold] medals, and now we’ve already won three [in Tokyo], and we hope to go further. We will see, and hopefully we will clinch that final victory and provide a triumphant moment to the people of Cuba."