Walsh Jennings and Ross end on high

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 17, 2016 – USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross won the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games bronze medal when they defeated Brazil’s Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes 2-1 (17-12, 21-17, 15-9) at the Copacabana Beach Arena on Wednesday. 

Here’s what they said after the match…

“Devastating was a huge word and it pretty much captures how I felt last night. Tonight, it was harder than I thought to get up for this match. It was an honour and a huge, huge opportunity to come and fight for this. It was a highlight of my athletic career.

“I have no idea. If I’m going with anyone (to Tokyo 2020), I’m going with her and I’m going for a gold medal.

“April won this tonight with her defence. You have to be connected and she never ever let me go.”

“That is the hardest match to play in sports; one team is going home empty handed; one team is going home with an Olympic medal. 

“I talked to myself all day today. I was in shock last night and it finally got worse throughout the day and so I spent a lot of time in bed with my eyes closed, just visualising getting up for this match. 

“Once we got here our coach Marcio gave us the most amazing pep-talk and snapped us out of it and it was determination from then on and it grew throughout that match.

“We were trying so hard and all about being together and not being down on one another. Things didn’t go our way in the first set and it was just a case of trying and trying and trying.”

“I’m truly happy for having had the chance to compete at these Games. To play here was huge happiness, I'm speechless.

“It was a hard match and we thought we could win, but we lost. Today I think we played better than yesterday and played better till the middle of the second set. 

“It was a tough match, playing against them is always a challenge. They have been more determined in the end. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The match was decided by details.

“It's been fantastic, the crowd was amazing, I loved playing here, close to my family and my friends. Unfortunately, it didn't go the way we had planned it, but we are still among the four best teams in the world.”

“We knew it would be a tough match and that we would have to be on our game all the time. If you let a moment go, it is hard to come back from.”