‘Sands of Time’ no match for U.S. volleyball icon April Ross

U.S. beach volleyball star April Ross, at age 39, has completed her full set of Olympic medal with a dominant gold medal victory, alongside partner Alix Klineman over their Australian opponents.

Ross and Klineman, 31, were too tough for Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar, serving and spiking their way to a decisive 21-16, 21-15, 43-minute victory, at Shiokaze Park’s Center Court early afternoon on Friday.

The Newport Beach, California resident won silver with Jen Kessy in London 2012, bronze with Kerri Walsh Jennings in Rio 2016, and now gold with Klineman, in Tokyo, to round out her collection.

Queried about possessing an Olympic medal of each color, Ross paused and said “I don’t know how to answer that question”.

“It is still so surreal to me – I was so proud of every other medal, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything,” Ross said, upon further thought.

“I was so happy with those experiences. I thought I had it in me to go for another one and then I found Alix. We started doing so much better and it kind of materialized, like maybe we have a shot at a gold medal.

“And then everyone wants to know if I want a gold to complete my set, and of course I want a gold medal. But without Alix and all the hard work and our team, I don’t know if it would be possible,” she added.

The well-established beach volleyball standout brought onboard the six-foot, four-inch Klineman as a partner in late 2017, taking a risk on her inexperienced fellow Californian.

“People should realize what a risk April took, taking me on as a partner,” Klineman said, sitting alongside Ross after their gold medal triumph. “When we got together, I had less than a year of experience on the beach and I was not playing at a high level.

“She just took my indoor experience into account, and my goals and motivations and felt how badly I wanted this.”

The duo has taken on the nickname ‘The A-Team’ inspired by their first names.

“Our communication and respect for each other is honestly off the charts,” Ross said, about Klineman, her seventh full-time partner since 2006. “I haven’t played with someone who is so open and honest, wants to communicate so much, and figure things out.”

Ross’ third Olympic medal is just one shy of her former partner Walsh, who also won three consecutive gold medals with Misty May-Treanor between Athens 2004 and London 2012, as the most dominant tandem in the sport’s history.

The new three-time American Olympic medalist was also asked about building upon the country’s rich tradition in the sport, U.S. women having garnered medals at each of the past five Olympic Games, four of them gold.

“It means a lot to uphold that tradition, it wasn’t easy,” Ross admitted. “The world is so good at beach volleyball now, with so many countries putting resources into their teams, the level is ridiculously high. So just really grateful that we were able to pull this off.”

The versatile, six-foot, one-inch Ross fired serves reaching 72 kph at her Aussie challengers, proving that father time has yet to catch up with her. Twenty-one years ago, as a young athlete at the University of Southern California, Ross was named national ‘Freshman of the Year’, then a rising talent on the indoor court.

As usual, Tokyo’s heat was once again a factor with temperatures rising to 32 degrees Celsium and sand temperature a scorching 45 Celsius under sunny skies. Humidity was manageable at 60 percent.

Undoubtedly, Ross has been a valuable ambassador for the sport, beach volleyball welcomed into the Olympic program in Atlanta 1996. She said she doesn’t mind her responsibility as the face of the sport, but looks forward to seeing new, young up and-coming beach volleyball stars in the near future.

“I am fine with it, if that’s the case, but it’s not something I seek out,” Ross said. “There’s a lot of responsibility in that. I think there will probably be more after this.

“I said part of this journey, I really wanted to start giving back to the girls coming up. I just want to see beach volleyball grow.”

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