Rio de Janeiro, August 8, 2016 - Brazil's World Champions, Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, kick off the afternoon session on day three with a pool A match against Austria's Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst. After losing their opener, this is a must win match for the Austrians.
Head to Head
Alison and Bruno have won seven of the eight meetings against Doppler/Horst on the FIVB World Tour, dating back to 2014. The Austrian's lone win was 21-23, 21-19, and 15-13, 72 minute battle in the round of 16 at the St. Petersburg Grand Slam in June, 2015. Their last meeting was just a little over a month ago where the Brazilians captured the gold medal at the Porec Major, 21-13, 16-21, and 15-12 in 52 minutes. The other five matches were straight-set wins by the 2015 World Champions, with two pool play wins, a quarterfinal win in Gstaad in July, 2014, and a semi-final victory at the Yokohama Grand Slam last season.
Historically the #1 seed has won all three pool play meetings against the #13 seed in the Olympic Games. The #13 seed forced a third set in Beijing (2008), 15-21, 21-11, and 15-13 and stretched the first game to overtime in London (2012), 26-24 and 21-18. In Sydney, the #1 seed won 15-12 in a second-round match.
Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, Seed #1, Pool A, 1-0, MAX Set Ratio, 1.1026 Point Ratio, Qualified as 2015 World Championship Gold Medalists
• Alison: December 7, 1985 (30y7m30d), 203 cm (6'8"), 110 kg (244 lbs.), Hometown Espirito Santo, 100th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 73rd), 20 gold medals (ranked 6th), $1,025,450 career winnings (ranks 5th).
• Bruno: October 6, 1986 (29y10m0d), 185 cm (6'1"), 87 kg (193 lbs.), Hometown Brasilia, 99th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 75th), 11 gold medals (ranks 14th), $743,025 career winnings (ranks 12th).
• Alison and Bruno have been playing together since 2014. They are playing in their 30th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, nine gold medals (ranks 10th), $892,500 career winnings (ranked 7th).
• Alison has played in 54 FIVB World Tour final fours with 20 gold, 15 silver, 11 bronze medals and eight 4th place finishes.
• Bruno has played in 31 FIVB World Tour final fours with 11 gold, eight silver, four bronze medals and eight 4th place finishes.
• Alison and Bruno have played in 13 Final Fours in 2015-2016 (4th Moscow Grand Slam 2015, Gold The Hague World Championships 2015, Gold Gstaad Major Series 2015, Gold Yokohama Grand Slam 2015, Gold Long Beach Grand Slam 2015, Gold Olsztyn Grand Slam 2015, 4th Rio de Janeiro Open 2015, Gold Fort Lauderdale World Tour Finals 2015, Gold Vitória Open 2016, Silver Moscow Grand Slam 2016, 4th Hamburg Major Series 2016, Silver Olsztyn Grand Slam 2016, Gold Porec Major Series 2016).
• Alison won the silver medal in the Olympic Games with Emanuel Rego in 2012 (London).
• Alison and Bruno won the gold medal in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Alison won the silver medal in the FIVB World Championships with Harley Marques in 2009 (Stavanger), won gold in 2011 (Rome) and finished 4th in 2013 (Stare Jablonki), both with Emanuel Rego .
• Bruno finished 17th in the FIVB World Championship with Joao Maciel in 2009 (Stavanger), 9th with Benjamin Insfran in 2011 (Rome), and 5th with Pedro Solberg in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Alison and Bruno are currently ranked 10th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 4,140 points and 2nd in winnings with $206,000.
• Alison and Bruno have a career 145-37 (79.7%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 98-19 (83.8%) record in 2015-16.
• Alison won the gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games with Emanuel Rego (Guadalajara, Mexico).
• Bruno won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships with Pedro Solberg in 2006 (Myslowice, Poland).
• Alison and Bruno were Team of the Year and Tour Points Champions in 2015.
• Alison was named the FIVB World Tour Most Improved Player in 2009, Best Blocker in 2011 and 2015, Best Hitter in 2011 and 2012, Best Offensive Player in 2011 and was Team of the Year and Tour Points Champion with Emanuel Rego in 2011.
• Bruno was named the FIVB World Tour Most Improved Player in 2010, Best Defensive Player in 2013, 2014, and 2015, Best Offensive Player in 2015, Most Outstanding in 2015, and Sportsperson in 2015.
• Alison is the heaviest men's player who has competed in any of the six Olympic Games at 110 kg (244 lbs.).
• Bruno is the nephew of Basketball Hall of Fame legend Oscar Schmidt
• Defeated Josh Binstock / Sam Schachter, Canada (24), 21-19 and 22-20 in 43 minutes
Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, Seed #13, Pool A, 0-1, 0.000 Set Ratio, 0.6429 Point Ratio, Qualified 13th with 5,020 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Clemens: September 6, 1980 (35y11m0d), 200 cm (6'7"), 87 kg (193 lbs.), Hometown Steyr, 156th FIVB World Tour event, $477,282 career winnings (ranks 36th)
• Alexander: December 20, 1982 (33y7m17d), 186 cm (6'1"), 85 kg (189 lbs.), Hometown Vienna, 110th FIVB World Tour event, $368,600 career winnings (ranks 52nd)
• Clemens and Alexander have been playing together since 2012. They are playing in their 43rd FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, $421,100 career winnings (ranks 43rd).
• Clemens has played in eight FIVB World Tour final fours with two silver medals, two bronze medals and four 4th place finishes.
• Alexander has played in nine FIVB World Tour final fours with two silver medals, two bronze medals and five 4th place finishes.
• Clemens and Alexander have played in three Final Fours in 2015-2016 (4th St. Petersburg Grand Slam 2015, Bronze Yokohama Grand Slam 2015, Silver Porec Major 2016).
• Clemens and Alexander finished 19th in the Olympic Games in 2012 (London).
• Clemens finished 9th in the Olympic Games with Peter Gartmayer in 2008 (Beijing).
• Alexander finished 5th in the Olympic Games with Florian Gosch in 2008 (Beijing).
• Clemens and Alexander finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2013 (Stare Jablonki) and 17th in 2015 (The Hague).
• Clemens finished 33rd in the FIVB World Championships with Dietmar Maderbock in 2001 (Klagenfurt), finished 17th in 2003 (Rio de Janeiro) and 25th in 2005 (Berlin), both with Nikolas Berger , 9th with Peter Gartmayer in 2007 (Gstaad), 17th in 2009 (Stavanger) and 9th in 2011 (Rome), both with Matthias Mellitzer.
• Alexander finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2007 (Gstaad) and 9th in 2009 (Stavanger), both with Florian Gosch , and 17th with Daniel Mullner in 2011 (Rome).
• Clemens and Alexander are currently ranked 25th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 2,740 points and 15th in winnings with $95,200.
• Clemens (155) ranks 14th and Alexander (109) ranks 49th in all-time FIVB World Tour individual tournaments. Clemens has played in more FIVB World Tour events than any other men's player competing in the Rio Olympics.
• Clemens and Alexander have a career 98-94 (51.0%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 45-47 (48.9%) record in 2015-16.
• Clemens and Alexander won the bronze medal at the European (CEV) Continental Championships in 2014 (Cagliari, Italy) along with one other gold medal and one silver medal on the CEV Continental Tour in 2013-14.
• Clemens won gold medals at the CEV Continental Championships with Nikolas Berger in 2003 (Alanya, Turkey) and Peter Gartmayer in 2007 (Valencia, Spain) along with two silver medals on the CEV Continental Tour with Peter Gartmayer and Matthias Mellitzer from 2006-10.
• Alexander won the silver medal at the CEV European Championship Final with Florian Gosch in 2009 (Sochi, Russia) along with one other silver medal on the CEV Continental Tour with Florian Gosch in 2008.
• Lost to Adrian Carambula / Alex Ranghieri, Italy (12), 14-21 and 13-21 in 37 minutes