World Championships Women 13/06/2011 - 19/06/2011

Rome, Italy, June 19 – Larissa and Juliana banished the memories of two losses in women’s World Championship finals to end their long wait for the gold medal with a win over Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh at the FIVB Swatch World Championships Rome 2011 powered by smart.

The Brazilians had twice lost World Championship finals, including the 2005 edition to May-Treanor and Walsh, as well as take the bronze in 2007. This time though they held their nerve to fight back from 8-4 down to tie at 14-14 and go on to take victory, 21-17, 13-21, 16-14.

“Concentration was very important and we had to stay focused,” Larissa said. “We stayed firm mentally and took it ball by ball, like we did the whole match.

“All the World was watching this match, USA v Brazil, and knowing that made it difficult. We stayed united the whole match especially during the difficult moments.”

Juliana and Larissa have been the dominant duo in women’s beach volleyball. As well as World Championships medals they have won five of the last FIVB Swatch World Tour championships, but had yet to win gold at a major championship.

May-Treanor and Walsh by contrast were world champions three times and double and reigning Olympic champions, so held a psychological edge ahead of the game.

“I’m proud that we fought back and stayed strong when the game was difficult,” Juliana said. “We came prepared to fight and we were strong. We stayed strong and became more and more confident.”

For the United States pair it was not quite the dream finish to their comeback after two years out of the sport since winning gold at Beijing 2008.

“We never had it,” Walsh said. “It was a big lead and our goal with a big lead is to always extend it, but instead it shrank. I think we lost our rhythm and this game is all about rhythm.”

World Championships Men 13/06/2011 - 19/06/2011

Rome, Italy, June 19 – Newly crowned world champion Emanuel Rego praised his partner Alison Cerutti for reinvigorating his career and helping him land a second World Championship gold at the FIVB Swatch World Championships Rome 2011 powered by smart.

The pair defeated Emanuel’s former partner Ricardo Santos and Marcio Araujo 21-16, 21-15 in a one-sided affair in which Alison was his usual menacing presence at the net.

“This is my third championship and I want to dedicate it to my friend,” Emanuel said.

“When you play volleyball you need some kind of energy, but when you play beach volleyball you need even more and more energy.

“Here you play eight matches and sometimes when you get old you think eight matches are too much. But with him you think, ‘one more, one more game,’ and he gives me that type of energy that helps you improvise.

Emanuel won the 2003 world title with Ricardo and a year later added the Olympic gold. However, after stepping back from playing he then struggled to return to his best until he linked up with Alison and the unrelenting energy and passion he has on the court.

The 25-year-old Alison was voted the smart player of the tournament for his all action displays at the Foro Italico and now has a world gold medal to sit alongside the silver that he won with Harley Marques Silva in 2009.

“At that time I didn’t think I would (return) because I was changing my life for personal reasons and it was a very tough decision,” Emanuel said. “I spent a year trying to get back into shape and it was tough for me and Alison because we had some ups and downs.

“Two years ago this man besides me had his first moments in a World Championships and he almost tasted the juice of winning a world title. But we lost to the Germans. Two years after that final he has grown as a man and a player.”

For Marcio and Ricardo the silver medal was reward for recovering from a slow start to the tournament that included a loss to the Netherland’s Daan Spijkers and Emiel Boersma in the pool stages.

On the night though they had no answer to the power of Alison and intelligent play of Emanuel.

“We started slowly and then after the pool play we put all our energy into our matches,” Marcio said.

“We built and built and we have made a big step in the race to the Olympics. We wanted to win of course, but you can’t always win.”

Larissa and Juliana

Juliana Felisberta Silva (born July 22, 1983 in Santos, Brazil) is a female beach volleyball player from Brazil, who won the silver medal in the women's beach team competition at the 2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Berlin, Germany and the 2009 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Stavanger, Norway, partnering Larissa França. At the 2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships they won the gold medal.

Larissa Franca (born, April 14, 1982) is a Brazilian beach volleyball player, which acts as the defender and attacker. Beside her partner Juliana, won their titles at World Tour Beach Volleyball, gold medal in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro 2007 and World Championship Beach Volleyball 2011.

Emanuel and Alison

Emanuel Fernando Sheffer Rego (born April 15, 1973 in Curitiba) is a beach volleyball player from Brazil, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, partnering Ricardo Santos. He famously offered his medal to his compatriot Vanderlei de Lima – who won a bronze in the men's marathon after being attacked by Cornelius Horan – a year later, though it was politely declined.

Alison Conte Cerutti (born December 7, 1986) is a beach volleyball player from Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Along with Emanuel Rego he won the Swatch FIVB World Tour Prague in 2011.

2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships

The 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championships was a beach volleyball event, that was held from June 13 to 19, 2011 in Rome, Italy. The Swatch FIVB World Championships are organized every two years, and Italy hosted the event for the first time. 48 teams per gender entered the competition making 96 total
.

Medal events

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's event	Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti (BRA)	Márcio Araújo and Ricardo Santos (BRA)	Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann (GER)
Women's event	Larissa França and Juliana Felisberta (BRA)	Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh (USA)	Xue Chen and Zhang Xi (CHN)

Todd and Phil

Todd Jonathan Rogers (born September 30, 1973) is an American professional beach volleyball player. He and his partner, Phil Dalhausser, were the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 AVP Tour champions, and are the reigning FIVB world champions, and reigning Olympic gold medalists from the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Rogers and Dalhausser won the gold medal in beach volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics after suffering a first round surprise defeat to Latvia. In 2011 Rogers and Dalhauser set new single season records for the most wins in a season on the FIVB, finishing the year as the worlds number one ranked team.

Philip "Phil" Peter Dalhausser (born January 26, 1980) is an American professional beach volleyball player. He and his partner, Todd Rogers, are the 2007 AVP Tour champions and the reigning FIVB world champions.
Dalhausser and Rogers have dominated both the domestic US tour and now the FIVB international tour winning #1 team honors on both tours in 2010. Dalhausser and Rogers are the reigning Olympic Gold Medalists from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games - Men's beach volleyball.

2008 Olympics beach volleyball winners

In men devision are:
Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser

In women devision are:
Misty May-Trenor and Kerri Walsh