They entered the Olympics having won over 100 consecutive matches and swept through the preliminaries and the medal round with relative ease to capture Gold once again. They are arguably the greatest of all time in their sport and quite possibly the most dominant team of any kind at these Olympic Games.
No, not the U.S. Swimming Team or even the U.S. Mens Basketball, "Redeem Team". I'm talking of course about the Beach Volleyball duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. They won 7 strait matches without dropping a single set and without ever really looking vulnerable. In the Finals they cruised past Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China, 21-18, 21-18. They did it in a driving rainstorm that caused the cancellation of other events, including the BMX Finals.
It was the culmination of their Olympic experience that also included a meeting with President Bush and Walsh losing her wedding ring in the middle of a match. She played the rest of the match thinking it was lost forever only to be informed the next day that volunteers spent hours sifting through the sand to find her ring. They presented it to her the following morning.
The Chinese women played tough in front of their home crowd and made the match closer than expected but it seemed like Walsh and May-Treanor made every big dig and kill when it mattered and they were rewarded for their efforts with their second Gold medal. Dating back to the Athens Games in 2004 they have now won 14 consecutive matches without dropping a single set and won Gold both times. Truly the Beach Volleyball equivalent of the "Dream Team".
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