Lausanne, Switzerland, May 18, 2016 – Having already enjoyed success in Rio de Janeiro April Ross is now counting down the days until her next visit to the city.
The London 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist won gold at the FIVB Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam in March and now has her eyes firmly fixed on returning to Copacabana Beach for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.
“I love the conditions, I love the atmosphere, I love the location,” Ross told USA Today. “It’s definitely Brazilian, but it has a little bit of a southern California vibe.”
Ross won London 2012 silver alongside long-time partner Jennifer Kessy. On the other side of the net were Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 champions and fellow Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May Treanor who made it a hat-trick of Olympic titles at Horse Guards Parade.
May Treanor retired after the London 2012 final and when Kessy paused her beach volleyball career at the end of 2013, Ross and Walsh quickly teamed up in mid-2014.
They are currently sixth in the FIVB Olympic Rankings with the top 17 set to qualify for Rio 2016. Since their first tournament as a pair at the 2014 Gstaad Grand Slam they have won eight gold medals on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, the most recent at the Fuzhou Open in April.
Walsh’s shoulder injury that laid her low from September 2015 to January 2016 means that they have yet to play the minimum of 12 ranking tournaments to be eligible for Rio 2016, though they are only one short and are currently playing at the Cincinnati Open.
“I knew that if we had to play in every single tournament and we had to win every single tournament, I had faith that we would win,” Walsh said. “That was the worst, most challenging case scenario, but we put ourselves in a position — even with the injury last year — to qualify with ease.”
“We do the best that we can with the situation we’re in,” Ross added, “and if you embrace everything you’re faced with, it’s just going to help you grow and it’s going to help you become better.”
For Ross Rio 2016 will be her second Olympic Games and she is planning to focus more on appreciating the experience and the rewarding feeling of competing as an Olympian.
“One of my biggest things is enjoying the journey,” she said. “There’s no point in doing this if you’re not going to look back on it and say, ‘Oh, that was really fun.’”