Brazil thrill crowd to take gold on home sand

Brazil took beach volleyball gold early on Friday in front of a raucous home crowd that refused to be quietened by the driving rain, as Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt defeated Italy 2-0 to win the nation’s first gold in the sport in 12 years.

In both sets, the Brazilians fought back after Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo took early leads, but the power of Cerutti at the net and deft spikes by Schmidt ultimately took the match 21-19 and 21-17.

The Netherlands beat Russia earlier to take bronze.

World champions Brazil have lived up to their billing as favorites throughout a thrilling tournament in Rio, drawing on the energy of sellout crowds at a venue that when the home team was not playing often struggled to fill.

Schmidt was instrumental in the final, turning the tide in the second set as he placed the ball all over the court frequently, leaving the diving Italians with nothing but handfuls of sand.

As the whistle went to crown Brazil champions, Cerutti ran over to hug the front row of the cheering crowd that he has called their “third player,” almost disappearing into their midst.

“The difference in this Olympics has been the crowd ... They’ve been at our side through difficult moments,” Cerutti said, his eyes welling up with tears.

“Winning here on Copacabana is incredible ... It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

The Italians accepted they had been well beaten.

“They are the best team in the world. Today we tried everything but they were better,” Nicolai said.

Before the final, the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen beat Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Viacheslav Krasilnikov 2-0 to take bronze, their country’s first beach volleyball medal, in a tight match.

Brouwer and Meeuwsen appeared unfazed at their first Olympic Games, using a clinical attack to prevail 23-21 and 22-20. Unlike the final, the arena was only half full.