While Brazil didn’t have the best fortune in the women’s beach volleyball competition, with Agatha and Barbara taking silver and Larissa and Talita failing to medal, Alison and Bruno Schmidt had better luck in the men’s bracket.
Alison and Bruno Schmidt took gold, beating Italy’s Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai in straight sets, 21-19, 21-17. While this is the first Olympic medal for Bruno Schmidt, Alison took in 2004 with then-partner Emanuel Rego. The current world champions, Alison and Bruno Schmidt are Brazil’s first Olympic champions since Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos took gold in 2004.
As for Lupo and Nicolai, their silver is Italy’s first Olympic medal in beach volleyball.
Also winning their country’s first Olympic medal in beach volleyball was the Dutch tandem of Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen, who defeated Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov of Russia in the bronze medal match, 23-21, 22-20.
WATCH: Brouwer, Meeuwsen win Netherland’s first beach volleyball medal