Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 18, 2016 – The Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen won the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games bronze medal with a 2-0 (23-21, 24-22) victory over Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Viacheslav Krasilnikov at the Copacabana Beach Arena on Thursday.
In doing so Brouwer and Meeuwsen become the first Dutch team to win an Olympic beach volleyball medal.
Here’s what they said after the match…
Alexander Brouwer, the Netherlands
“That 2-0 doesn’t tell the whole story. What a match. That first set they were leading, but even when we’re behind we keep fighting and stayed aggressive. We took a lot of risks with our serve-block and I think that was rewarding for us. I am really happy to take this bronze here.
“It was a great experience for our country. Our world champs’ gold medal in 2013 was already a big step in beach volleyball and having the world champs last year was another big step and I think this is the next big step forward for beach volleyball in the Netherlands.”
Robert Meeuwsen, the Netherlands
“It was tough (recovering after losing the semifinal), but it went really quick. I thought it would take at least the day we got off, but in the evening after the semis I was like, ‘it really sucks that we lost, but I went to get a medal so bad’. So even in the evening I was really focused on this game.
“The European Championships is still one where we want to get a medal. This is an amazing feeling. To win gold at a world champs and now bronze here. Later on we will look forward and will look for higher goals again.”
Konstantin Semenov, Russia
“It was terrible, we lost. They played as they did as usual, but it was about us. We played worse than usual.”
Viacheslav Krasilnikov, Russia
“Of course we enjoyed the atmosphere and playing games here. It’s been great.”