Last American podium sweep this week in World Tour history

Six countries have combined to claim gold on the men’s and women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour podiums at a same event, and the last American teams to accomplish the feat did so this week in FIVB beach volleyball history.

Three years ago in Australia, the American tandems Amanda Dowdy Lawson/Irene Pollock and Avery Drost/Chase Frishman earned spots on the same Shepparton podium on February 4, 2018. The gold medals were also the first and only World Tour titles for each team.

Seeded fourth in the 2018 Shepparton Open, Lawson and Pollock posted a 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-7) semifinal win over top-seeded Shaunna Polley/Kelsie Wills of New Zealand before defeating seventh-seeded compatriots Caitlin Ledoux/Jace Pardon 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 15-12) in the 49-minute gold medal match.

After posting a pair of qualifying wins to gain a spot in the Shepparton money rounds, the 14th-seeded Drost and Frishman won their next five main draw matches highlighted by final four victories over two Australian teams starting with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) semifinal win over second-seeded Cole Durant/Zachery Schubert.

In the men's finale against defending Shepparton champion and top-seeded Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann, Drost and Frishman scored a 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) gold medal win in 34-minutes over the Australians.

While Lawson and Pollock were playing in their fifth of 15 FIVB events together and Drost and Frishman were competing together in an international event for the first-time. Drost and Frishman also became the 16th men’s team in 373 World Tour events to win an event gold medal after advancing from a qualifier.

Since the start of FIVB-sanctioned events in 1987, there have been 79 World events where the winning men’s and women's teams were the same country, including 15 such occasions for the United States. Brazilian pairs lead the way with 60 sweeps on the World Tour. Austria, China, France and Russia have each posted one podium sweep.

Gold medal celebrations

On Saturday February 6, two gold medal-winning performances will be celebrated by pairs from Brazil and the United States. Legendary Roberto Lopes and Franco Neto of Brazil won the 1994 Rio de Janeiro Open for the team's second of 13 FIVB World Tour wins. In 2000, Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs of the United States won the Vitória Open for their first of three FIVB World Tour wins together.

Birthdays

Nine Olympians celebrate birthdays this week, including three-time Summer Games participant Jake Gibb of the United States. Celebrating No. 45 on Saturday, Gibb is seeking his fourth Olympic appearance for Tokyo with Taylor Crabb. Gibb placed fifth at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2008 Summer Games with Sean Rosenthal and 19th at the Rio Olympics with Casey Patterson.

Two-time Olympians celebrating birthdays on Friday are Norwegian Jan Kvalheim (58), Dutchman Richard Schuil (48) and Switzerland’s Nadine Zumkehr (36). Simon Dahl, who placed 19th and ninth at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Summer Games with Bjorn Berg, turns 46 on Saturday.

Kvalheim finished seventh and 19th at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympics, with Bjorn Maaseide, while Schuil placed fifth and fourth at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Summer Games with Reinder Nummerdor.

On the World Tour, Kvalheim (18) and Schuil (16) combined for 34 medals during their career as the Dutchman won nine gold medals with Nummerdor and Kvalheim claimed seven titles with Maaseide. Both players were part of their country’s first-ever gold medal-winning teams on the World Tour.

Zumkehr placed ninth at the London Olympics with Simone Kuhn followed by a fifth in 2016 at Rio with Joana Heidrich. Zumkehr and Kuhn also won Switzerland’s first-ever women’s gold medal with a podium-topping performance in November 2009 at Sanya, China.

Other Olympians celebrating birthdays this week are American Nicole Branagh (42 today), Australian Pauline Manser (52 Tuesday), Cuban Milagros Crespo (42 Thursday) and the Netherlands' Sanne Keizer (36 Saturday)

Manser placed fifth at the Sydney 2000 Olympics with Tania Gooley, Branagh finished fifth at Beijing 2008 with Elaine Youngs, Crespo was ninth at the China Summer Games with Imara Esteves Ribalta and Keizer was ninth at the London competition with Marleen van Iersel.