- ♪ The beach duo is disappointed ♪
Sparklers lit up, there was applause and many hugs: As beach volleyballers Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehlers walked through a corridor of family and friends in the Parisian night, their smiles were briefly absent.
Not far from the spectacular stadium near the Eiffel Tower, they and their hard-earned silver medal were celebrated in a restaurant. The pain of the crushing final loss at Olympia will likely linger for the Hamburgers for a while.
"We didn't find our game at all, unfortunately we played our worst game of the season in the final," said native Berliner Ehlers, still visibly disappointed.
The head wasn't in it
With impressive performances, the Hamburgers had marched into the final in the French capital. But against the young world number ones from Sweden, David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig, they won 0:2 (10:21, 13:21), almost nothing went right. "Maybe we wanted too much. Gold in sight and then completely blanked out," Wickler tried to explain.
He had felt best during the warm-up, but then on the field, everything was gone. "Legs completely heavy. It was definitely something that happened to us mentally," said the 29-year-old.
Many service errors, misunderstandings, and other mistakes were seen by the many German fans. The Swedes didn't even have to rely on their special jump serves. They just had to play controlled and with few errors.
"It's incredibly painful because on stage, with all the attention, we couldn't find our game and perform like that," said the 30-year-old Ehlers.
The joy will come
Many supporters had traveled from home and taken long journeys. Seeing such a performance was very disappointing, said Wickler. "But if I see how proud most of the German fans are of us, it helps me to be proud of our performance too. Because we grew beyond ourselves in the six games before."
The goal was a medal, which the partners had set for themselves when forming their team in 2022. That it became silver in the end is the greatest success of their career and quite surprising.
With some time, the joy of what they've achieved will come. "And that's important, to keep realizing it, to keep telling yourself," said Ehlers. "And eventually, I'm sure I'll believe it 100 percent." The evening with loved ones will certainly have helped.
The next tournament is coming up quickly
The duo sees themselves still on the way up. Ehlers spoke of an extremely important learning experience. Wickler was determined: "If we ever get the chance to have a similar final again, we'll do better."
The Hamburgers won't have much time to celebrate their silver or dwell on the missed opportunity, as the international calendar is tight. The European Championship in the Netherlands starts for them on Wednesday.
The Olympic Games served as their ultimate goal, a title they aimed to capture when they formed their team in 2022. despite the crushing final loss at the Olympic Games, their silver medal is now their greatest career achievement.
Their focus now shifts to the European Championship in the Netherlands, starting soon, as they won't have much time to celebrate their silver medal or dwell on the missed Olympian gold.
