Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Beach Volleyball

Bruno Schmidt on tackling challenges

Reigning Olympic champion speaks about team's difficult start in Tokyo

Published 07:23, 26 Jul 2021

Evandro Goncalves and Bruno Schmidt had a victorious but really tough start at the Tokyo 2020 beach volleyball tournament. After their first game at Shiokaze Park, defending Olympic champion Bruno explained why he didn't have a problem entering the competition in this way.

“The main thing is that we don’t need to win by 2-0 all the time. We don’t need that! We just need to stay alive and try to make this tournament as long as possible for our team,” the 34-year-old Brazilian told Volleyball World.

In the opening match of men’s Pool E at the Olympics, the pair consisting of two highly successful Brazilian athletes were the heavy favourites against Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt. Evandro and Bruno Schmidt won, but the Chilean cousins made them work for it. The game was pushed to three sets and finished at 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-12) Brazil’s way.

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“I think that the first set showed the way we want to play this whole tournament,” Bruno said. “You can call me crazy, but I like the way we started. We already had everything in our first game – a very hard game, three sets, down in the score, our main weapon, the serve, not working well... We faced challenges in communication, challenges related to the weather conditions...

“In my opinion, we have to be thankful that we faced all these challenges. I really start worrying when we begin with an easy 2-0 without facing any challenges, because then suddenly you are into single elimination unprepared. Matches like this one prepare you for everything. So I think it’s a good way to start.”

The heat in Tokyo, especially during the daytime matches, has made the battles on the sand court at Shiokaze Park even more challenging for the athletes.

“Even for us, Brazilians, the conditions are really tough. In the first set I started jumping, jump-serving, running and everything... But then I realised that I needed to concentrate and conserve my energy in order to be stronger through the end. We need to be smart,” said Bruno.

Bruno jump-serving in Tokyo

The acclaimed defender also talked about the new challenges in beach volleyball in general, and gave his explanation for the frequent reshuffles in the Brazilian duos.

“As you can see, the faces on the World Tour have changed a lot and have changed fast. They are younger, they are taller, they are stronger...” Bruno said. “To tackle the new challenges, I need this machine next to me. Towering at 2.10 metres, Evandro is such a powerful guy! That’s the direction beach volleyball is taking. That’s the reason why we switch partners so much, because we want to be here with our best teams and in the best conditions.

“When I saw all the candidates for Olympic qualification, I knew that I needed to play with a person like Evandro if I wanted to be successful. And this applies to the other teams as well. We always think about which teams will be the most competitive on the World Tour, because we have so many good players in Brazil.”