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The venue at the foot of the Eiffel Tower is a veteran Olympic venue. Alexander Horst The 41-year-old will start at the weekend Julian Hall Fourth Summer Olympics. Only one beach volleyball player has appeared in more Olympics: the Spaniard Pablo Herrera (42) Sixth participation in the Paris competition.
Neither team is among the favorites. For Hall/Horst, the first task is to survive a tough group in the round of 24.
‘Canada is the team to beat’
Austria will face Brazil on Sunday (8 p.m.). Evandro/ArthurWednesday (9:00 a.m.) Czech World Championship David Pigna/Ondrej Perusic and the Canadiens next Friday (11 a.m. Sam Schacht / Daniel DeeringThe top two teams in each group will advance to the round of 16, along with the two best third-placed teams in the group. The remaining four third-placed teams will compete for the last two tickets to the play-off knockout stage.
“Canada is a team that needs to be beaten to qualify,” said Horst, who lost to Evandro in the 2017 World Cup final in Vienna alongside Clemens Doppler. The 41-year-old likes the order of the matches. “It’s well known that Brazil is a bit arrogant in the first game. We hope to take advantage of that. The Czechs are the favourites in the group.” Hall, like Arthur, thinks so. Olympia-Rookie: “Maybe he was a little nervous. But we have a lot of talent. Canada is probably the weakest team on paper.”
“I don’t know if you can find a better place in Europe”
The ÖOC duo has fond memories of Paris. Last year it faced Roland Garros on the tennis court Elite 16 Championship 4th place The greatest joint success to date. Approx. Olympia-Medal combined into one 12,860 spectators in a large makeshift arena on the Champ de Mars. “I don’t know if you can find a better place in Europe,” Horst enthused. “With the Eiffel Tower in the background, it’s amazing.” Hall was equally enthusiastic after the first training session. “The location is amazing. I’ve never played in a stadium this big.”
The expectations are no different from any other tournament. “We want to create a team first, and then everything is possible,” Horst said. “I showed that in my first tournament and have done the same in recent years.” Olympia– In his debut in Beijing in 2008, he reached the quarterfinals together with Florian Gosch, the future Secretary General of the Austrian Olympic Committee. In London 2012, Doppler was eliminated in the group stage, and in Rio 2016, Doppler reached the round of 16. Horst did not participate in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but he is not looking back: “I just think about what I can achieve here.”
“We have proven that we can defeat the best of the best”
After the Tokyo Olympics, Horst joined forces with Hall. “It’s a childhood dream come true,” says the 32-year-old. “The qualification tournaments in beach volleyball are very difficult and I’m looking forward to the opportunity.” Especially after shoulder surgery in 2022, it’s not even clear whether the Salzburg player will be able to continue his professional career. “He trains extremely hard, gives everything, works overtime,” Horst praised his blocker. “He really wants to achieve this goal and he should enjoy everything from the beginning.” Hall likes to put it into practice: “I get a lot of impressions.”
When it comes to sports, he doesn’t want to hide. “We have proven that we can beat the best of the best.” Based on the experience of his partner and the experience of his coach Martin Olenac – He will benefit a lot. “He is the one who understands and reads the game the best,” praises Hall Horst. “That saved us several games. He is one of the most talented athletes ever.” In addition to this, Horst has a huge desire to win. “Few athletes enjoy winning so much anyway.” This also applies to the dice poker nights within the team.
The gold medal favorites are two Scandinavian duos
It’s time again Olympia Playing in front of two children for the first time is Horst’s biggest motivation. “They come on Friday, stay for a week and watch all the group matches. If we go further (note to the quarterfinals), I will book another flight for them.” The Viennese is open about what will happen next in his career after this season. In 2004, Herrera won the silver medal in Athens and has not won a silver medal since then Olympia– missed the game. “It’s actually impossible, that’s too bad, a true legend.” Horst took off his hat.
Horst said the density of world-class players had changed over the past 20 years. “The United States used to be clearly ahead, then for a long time nothing happened – now Europe is clearly ahead.” The gold medal favourites are Swedish world number one David Ammann and Jonathan Hellvig, followed by Norwegian defending champions and Vienna champions Anders Mohr/Christian Sorum.
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