Thursday, August 18, 2016

You rock, girls!


Neither of the happy winners, Kira Walkenhorst and Laura Ludwig, were in 1984 even glints in the eyes of their respective parents. But in that Olympic year I was publisher of the quarterly periodical Eurovolley in which we speculated about the relevance of beach volleyball, with its implication of sun-blessed sandy shores, in our northern climes.

I was optimistic even then. My attitude towards sport was that of a provider of entertainment, spectacle for the eye and sufficient excitement to make the pulse beat faster. At the Cap d'Agde naturist resort I'd found mixed-doubles tennis involving naked players a bit grotesque, but beach volleyball had met with my unqualified approval. 

But in Germany could it ever be taken seriously as a proper sport, let alone an Olympic discipline?  Now the gold in Rio is Germany's first-ever medal in women's beach volleyball. It goves me some kind of satisfaction after all the intervening years.

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