Olympics: May & Walsh create All-American Olympic semifinal

After waiting eight years, the United States has finally netted a women's Olympic Beach Volleyball medal as both American teams in the Athens 2004 Athens Games won here Sunday to advance to the semifinals.

With Misty May and Kerri Walsh posting a 21-19 and 21-14 win in 38 minutes over Guylaine Dumont and Annie Martin of Canada, the United States is guaranteed at least a silver medal after failing to reach the podium in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.

"I am look forward to tomorrow and our match with Elaine and Holly," said Walsh about their 20th all-time meeting with Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs, who scored a 21-17 and 21-17 victory over Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau in 43 minutes earlier Sunday.

"I am glad for our country that we have two teams capable of winning a medal," Walsh noted, "but I am more excited that Misty and I have come through the competition in good shape against the world's best players. It should be a good match and the team with the fewest mistakes will play for the gold medal."

May and Walsh have won 16 of the previous 19 meetings with McPeak and Youngs, who netted one of their wins when May had to forfeit a domestic title match last month in Southern California when she had to withdraw due to her lingering abdominal strain problems. May and Walsh have won six of the eight matches on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.

"I feeling good right now, especially since we are playing only one match per day," said May, who finished fifth with McPeak at the Sydney 2000 Games. "The format of Olympics has been good for me along with playing in warm weather. I glad that Holly and Elaine advanced to give our country two shots at a medal. No predictions on the match, except we'll be ready to play."

As for the American men, there will be no gold medal after capturing the 1996 and 2000 Olympic titles. Fifth-seeded Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel of Switzerland eliminated Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger 21-16 and 21-19 win in 43 minutes Sunday afternoon.

Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won the inaugural Olympic competition at the 1996 Atlanta Games where they defeated American rivals Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh in the finals. Dain Blanton, who competed in the Athens Games with Jeff Nygaard, captured the Sydney 2000 gold medal with Eric Fonoimoana. Blanton and Nygaard also lost to Heuscher and Kobel in pool play 21-16, 13-21 and 15-13.

The Olympic Beach Volleyball competition continues through Wednesday when the men play their medal matches. The women's final two matches will be played Tuesday.

For more information on Olympic Beach Volleyball, go to the USA Volleyball web site or the FIVB web site.