Double victory for Brazil in Gstaad

The stadium was full, the atmosphere was electric, and the Brazilians were unbeatable. Following in the footsteps of last year’s American sweep, Brazilian teams prevailed in both the men’s and women’s draws of the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam 2008. After a three-set struggle in the men’s tournament against the European Champions Nummerdor/Schuil from Holland, the Brazilian team Harley/Pedro (pictured above) were on par with their female colleagues, Ana Paula Conelly and Shelda Bede (pictured below right), who beat the Chinese team of Jie Wang und Jia Tian the day before. So it’s all over for another year, and somehow it seems like this event will actually be missed. No more slow waves, sponsored rain ponchos, and wonton hand clapping. No more sand bars in the Promenade with counters propped up by seriously lanky, tanned folk from all over the world.

Our cousins over at the AnzeigervonSaanen.ch, in conjunction with the folks from MyGstaadTV, were mixing and mingling with the crowd and getting themselves embedded with one of the Swiss teams. It's in Swiss German, but you still get a good feel for the atmosphere...

The stadium was full, the atmosphere was electric, and the Brazilians were unbeatable. Following in the footsteps of last year’s American sweep, Brazilian teams prevailed in both the men’s and women’s draws of the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam 2008. After a three-set struggle in the men’s tournament against the European Champions Nummerdor/Schuil from Holland, the Brazilian team Harley/Pedro (pictured above) were on par with their female colleagues, Ana Paula Conelly and Shelda Bede (pictured below right), who beat the Chinese team of Jie Wang und Jia Tian the day before. So it’s all over for another year, and somehow it seems like this event will actually be missed. No more slow waves, sponsored rain ponchos, and wonton hand clapping. No more sand bars in the Promenade with counters propped up by seriously lanky, tanned folk from all over the world.

Our cousins over at the AnzeigervonSaanen.ch, in conjunction with the folks from MyGstaadTV, were mixing and mingling with the crowd and getting themselves embedded with one of the Swiss teams. It's in Swiss German, but you still get a good feel for the atmosphere...

Oh well, theyll all be back for next year’s Grand Slam tournament, and the sand stars will be back in action beginning at the end of next week in the Beijing Olympics, which American TV executives expect to be among the most watched disciplines after Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor’s victory, uh, embrace in the sand at Athens 2004.