Rio de Janeiro, August 12, 2016 - Austria's Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, 3rd place in pool A, clashes against the surprising pool D winners, Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez of Cuba in a round of 16 match which is the first meeting between the two teams. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals, and the loser will be eliminated with a 9th-place finish.
Head to Head
The two teams have never met in FIVB World Tour competition.
Historically the #13 Seed has never played the #21 Seed in the Olympic Games.
Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, Seed #13, Pool A, 2-1, 3rd Place, 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 100-94 (51.5%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 47-47 (50.0%) 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
• Defeated Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil (1), 23-21, 16-21, and 15-13 in 57 minutes.
• Defeated Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter, Canada (24), 21-19, 16-21, and 15-8 in 49 minutes.
Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba, Seed #21, Pool D, 3-0, 1st Place, Qualified through North, Central America and Caribbean Confederation (NORCECA) Continental Cup
• Nivaldo: March 24, 1994 (22y4m13d), 200 cm (6'7"), 81 kg (180 lbs.), Hometown LA Habana, 2nd FIVB World Tour event, $5,500 career winnings
• Sergio: June 20, 1990 (26y1m17d), 192 cm (6'4"), 89 kg (198 lbs.), Hometown Holguin, 2nd FIVB World Tour event, $5,500 career winnings
• Nivaldo and Sergio are playing in their 2nd FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, $11,000 career winnings.
• Nivaldo and Sergio finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Nivaldo and Sergio have a career 6-2 (75.0%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events, all in 2015-16.
• Nivaldo and Sergio won eight gold, one silver, and one bronze medal on the NORCECA Continental Tour from 2012-2014.
• Sergio has won seven gold, six silver, and two bronze medals on the NORCECA Continental Tour with Yaismel Borrel, Kinderlan Alvarez, and Karell Pena from 2009-2013.
• Sergio ranks 2nd all-time in NORCECA Continental Tour gold medals with 15 and Nivaldo ranks 5th with eight.
• Nivaldo and Sergio helped secure Cuba’s Rio berth with a 5-0 match mark in the NORCECA Continental Cup in Guaymas, Mexico
• Nivaldo and Sergio with one previous FIVB World Tour event each are tied with Tunisia's Choaib Belhaj and Mohamed Naceur as the least experienced men's players at the Rio Olympics.
• Defeated Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil (4), 24-22, 21-23, and 15-13 in 59 minutes.
• Defeated Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia (9), 23-21, 19-21, and 15-9 in 51 minutes.
• Defeated Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Canada (16), 21-15 and 21-18 in 35 minutes.