Lausanne, Switzerland, April 19, 2020 - American Olympic and world champion Phil Dalhausser’s 38 FIVB World Tour gold medals is the third most among men in the 34-season history of the international beach volleyball circuit with five of those podium-topping finishes during a five-day period in the month of April.
When reviewing the April 19-25 time period in World Tour history, Dalhausser sandwiched two FIVB career wins on April 23 with titles on April 22 and 25. The first three titles were with his 2008 Olympic and 2007 World Championship partner Todd Rogers in 2010 (April 25), 2011 (April 23) and 2012 (April 22) in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia.
2012 Brasilia press conference (left to right) with Americans Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers
Dalhausser’s fourth gold medal during the April 19-25 period was in 2016 with his current teammate Nick Lucena on April 23 in Fuzhou, China. Known as the “Thin Beast”, Dalhausser also claimed a fifth title in April on the 27th with Sean Rosenthal in Fuzhou.
Only legendary Brazilians Emanuel Rego (77) and Ricardo Santos (56) have won more FIVB gold medals than Dalhauser. Emanuel and Ricardo are also the leader of team FIVB gold medals with 34 followed by Dalhausser and Rogers with 23 titles.
Fourteen (14) teams for eight countries captured FIVB World Tour gold medals during the April 19-25 period, including three by Juliana Felisberta and Larissa Franca of Brazil. The women’s FIVB leader in team gold medals with 45 World Tour titles, Juliana and Larissa captured three-straight tournament crowns on home sand in Brasilia with championships in 2009 (April 25), 2010 (April 24) and 2011 (April 22).
Brazilians Juliana Felisberta (left) and Larissa Franca
Other Brazilian women’s pairs winning gold medals during the April 19-25 period were Atlanta 1996 Olympic champions Sandra Pires/Jackie Silva (1996 on April 21 in Recife, Brazil) and Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas (2017 on April 23 in Xiamen, China).
Also producing April 19-25 podium-topping performances were by Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China (2012 on April 20 in Brasilia), Aliaksandr Dziadkou/Pavel Piatrushka of Belarus (2019 on April 21 in Göteborg, Sweden), Raisa Schoon/Emi van Driel of the Netherlands (2019 on April 21 in Göteborg, Sweden), Oleg Stoyanovskiy/ Igor Velichko of Russia (2018 on April 22 in Xiamen, China), Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada (2018 on April 22 in Xiamen, China), Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands (2017 on April 23 in Xiamen, China), April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States (2016 on April 24 in Fuzhou) and Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen of Germany (2015 on April 25 in Fuzhou).
China's Xi Zhang (left) and Chen Xue during Brasilia 2012 awarding ceremony
Olympians with birthdays this week are Michel Everaert of the Netherlands (57, April 21), Miguel Maia of Poland (49, April 23), Marek Pakosta of the Czech Republic (51, April 21), Casey Patterson of the United States (40, April 20), Cecile Rigaux of France (51, April 20), Chaim Schalk of (34, April 23) and Zhang (35, April 19),
Maia competed in three Olympics with Joao Brenha as the pair finished fourth in both 1996 and 2000 after losing bronze medal matches to John Child/Mark Heese of Canada in Atlanta and Jörg Ahmann/Axel Hager of Germany in Sydney. Maia and Brenha, who captured Portugal’s only two FIVB World Tour gold medals, finished ninth in 2004 after losing to eventual Athens bronze medal winners Switzerland’s Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel of Switzerland.
Miguel Maia of Portugal
Zhang competed in two consecutive Olympic final fours with Xue as the Chinese pair collected the bronze medal in 2008 at Beijing before losing the third-place match in 2012 in London to Juliana and Larissa.
Everaert, Secretary General of the Dutch Volleyball Federation (NeVoBo), competed in the Atlanta Olympics with Sander Mulder as the Dutch pair dropped matches to both Maia/Brenha and Pakosta/Michal Palinek. Pakosta and Palinek split four matches at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Games and were eliminated by Child/Heese.
Michel Everaert (left) of The Netherlands
Patterson and Schalk were Rio 2016 Olympians with the American placing 19th with Jake Gibb and the Canadian ninth with Ben Saxton. Rigaux placed ninth in Sydney with Anabelle Prawerman as the French pair upset Maike Friedrichsen/Danja Musch of Germany in their first match before being eliminated by Australians Tania Gooley/Pauline Manser.
France's Cecile Rigaux (left) and Marion Castelli