Ten days after celebrating his current partner’s birthday at a Brazilian domestic stop in Saquarema, Alison Cerutti will be at home in Vitoria today celebrating his 35th with a normal day of training before an evening dinner with his mother Niceia, sister Aline and wife Tatiana.
“I’ll be home on my birthday,” said Alison, a two-time world champion and an Olympic silver and gold medal winner. “The plan is to have a normal day, with training and everything else, and join my wife, my mother and my sister for dinner in the evening to celebrate. December 7 was also my father’s birthday (Abilio, who died on January 30, 2018), so we try to get together and celebrate the great memories we had with him during his life.”
With the fifth and final Brazilian event for men scheduled next week in Saquarema where he and Alvaro Filho won the second and third legs, Alison said “getting back to competition has been important for our bodies and our minds. After six months without tournaments, it’s been good to be able to get that rhythm back.”
Alison said he “had a lot of muscle pain because of the long inactivity, but now I feel great. Our physical and mental preparation had been entirely focused on the Olympics and we had to change our plans. We saw several teams in Europe being able to compete in the national tours or at least getting together for training camps a few months ago when we weren’t able to do the same here. So, it was nice that we got to do the same here now and hopefully we can continue playing in the first semester of 2021.”
When talking about Alvaro, Alison said “I always believed in my game and he’s one of the reasons why I was able to remain as a competitive athlete at the age of 35. He’s so eager and dedicated and to see it every day is inspiring. We’re from different generations but we share the same dreams and the same motivation. To see his commitment and his positive attitude, it’s clear to me he’s a special athlete. Not many athletes are willing to put that kind of effort and give up on so much to chase their dreams and he’s one of them.”
Álvaro and Alison have played in 13 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events together with a 48-18 match mark with gold medal finishes in 2019 at stops in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Portugal (Espinho) followed by second places at back-to-back events in Vienna and Moscow. The pair also posted a fourth at the Tokyo Olympic test event in July.
A winner of 25 FIVB World Tour gold medals with six different partners, Alison had his greatest successes with Emanuel Rego and Bruno Oscar Schmidt as he won World Championships with both and placed on Olympic podiums.
After topping an FIVB podium in 2008 with Pedro Cunha and netting two World Tour gold medals in 2009 with Harley Marques, Alison captured seven gold medals with Emanuel highlighted by the Rome 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship crown followed by a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Before partnering with Bruno, Alison won an FIVB stop in China at Xiamen with Vitor Felipe. The Alison/Bruno partnership produced 12 gold medals featuring a 2015 World Championship title in the Netherlands and Olympic gold in 2016 on home sand in Rio on Copacabana.
“These were completely different experiences,” said Alison about playing with Emanuel and Bruno. “When I paired with Emanuel, he was 13 years older than me and had had tremendous success with other partners. I was younger and was chasing my Olympic dream. It was really gratifying to repeat some of his previous accomplishments by winning an Olympic medal and the World Championships.”
As for Bruno, Alison said “we were the same age and had a similar level of experience. It was a different situation for me because I had been at the top already and was determined to return to the Olympic podium. With time, we got where we wanted to to get those same results.”
Alison said he was “grateful for everything I’ve accomplished with Emanuel and Bruno and everything I learned from them. They’re great athletes and great people and I wouldn’t have accomplished all I did if it weren’t for them. And now I’m just starting a new chapter with Alvaro. It’s been just one year and a half and even if we didn’t get those same opportunities yet, we did some remarkable things such as moving up from 46th to third in the world ranking.”
As for memorable moments on the World Tour, Alison said “I’m fortunate to have had several memorable moments in these more than years I’ve been competing on the World Tour. The first that comes to mind was in 2008, in Gstaad, with Emanuel, when I first started a tournament in the main draw, and we got a bronze medal. In 2009, with Harley, we took silver at the World Championship. My victory with Emanuel at the 2011 World Championship was also incredibly special because I was young and was still fighting for my space among the best. And to repeat it with Bruno four years later during a run that saw us break the record of consecutive victories at the World Tour was also amazing. Winning back-to-back titles at the World Tour Finals in 2015 and 2016 was really important too. And most recently, with Alvaro, our victory in Espinho in 2019 meant a lot to me. I had finished 25th with Andre the year before so to return there and step on to the top of the podium was really emotional.”
When asked about the Tokyo Summer Games, Alison said he “was a little scared when I heard the Olympics had been postponed because that was a consequence of the world going through a difficult moment. When the first tournaments were cancelled, I thought things would get back to normal quickly, but when it impacted the Olympics it became clear how serious the situation was. I was a little anxious because I didn’t know what to do with everything that was going on. And that’s when my coaching staff came up big. We decided that the goal would be to lose the least we could from a physical standpoint, and they did a great job in adapting our workouts to what we could do at the time. I didn’t set foot in the sand for four months, but still realised I had lost the least I could have due to the activities they designed for us. It was a unique situation, no one had dealt with it before and what I tried to do was remain focused and try to control what I could. And we did a great job with that.”
As for playing away from Brazil, Alison said he “really missed the international competition. To get back to compete in Brazil was great but being overseas we get to feel the love of people who love our sport around the world in places like Poland, Russia, Switzerland and Austria. I miss the fans and the way they support every team in every tournament. That atmosphere is what makes our sport successful. And also, being with other athletes away from the court, we have a really good time.”
After playing only domestically since last appearing at an FIVB event in September 2019 in Rome, Alison said he “loves spending time with my family, my friend and my dogs. We love getting together, barbecuing and just talking about life and our experiences as people and professionals. I love traveling as well and playing video games. In summary, I love being a normal person, which is something I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to be in the last 17 years of my life because of all the dedication my career demands.”