Seventeen years ago, Monday, Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde were delighting their fans on home sand in Argentina by winning an FIVB Satellite event in Mar del Plata, but in the process, the pair was spoiling Martin Laciga’s birthday celebration.
By posting a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) gold medal win in 44 minutes over Martin and his brother Paul Laciga, Baracetti and Conde were capturing their sixth and final international gold medal. The event was the last of four FIVB-sanctioned tournaments to be played in Mar del Plata.
Paul Laciga (left) and Martin Laciga of SwitzerlandBaracetti and Conde's first three FIVB gold medals occurred during their first season together in 2001 highlighted by a podium topping performance at the FIVB World Championships in Klagenfurt when they defeated Brazil’s Ricardo Santos and Jose Loiola of Brazil 2-1 (25-23, 12-21, 20-18) in the 67-minute finale.
Martin Laciga, who turns 46 Monday, and his brother Paul were also seeking their second FIVB gold medal in Mar del Plata after winning the inaugural event in January 1998 at the Atlantic Ocean coastal resort city that 415 kilometers south of Buenos Aires on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Mar del Plata FIVB win tied the series between the two teams at 5-5 with the Lacigas avenging the setback six months later on home sand in Gstaad with a pool play win at the 2007 World Championships in the Swiss Alps town.
The Gstaad meeting was the last between the two teams as the Laciga’s were also playing in their final event together. The 2007 Worlds marked the brothers’ 121st FIVB tournament. Only Vegard Hoidalen/Jorre Kjemperud of Norway (135) and Joao Brenha/Miguel Maia of Portugal (134) have played in more men's FIVB events than the Lacigas.
Joining Martin Laciga as Olympians celebrating birthdays this week are American Phil Dalhausser, who turns 41 Tuesday. Four Olympians celebrate birthdays Wednesday, including Robert Nowotny (47) of Austria, Liesbet Van Breedam (42) of Belgium, Mark Williams (42) of Australia and Wang Fan of China (27).
Switzerland's Martin Laciga signs autographs for Swiss fansLaciga was a three-time Olympian with fifth places at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Summer Games with his brother. The Lacigas, who captured six FIVB gold medals together, also placed second at the 1999 FIVB World Championships in France after losing the Marseille final to Loiola and Emanuel Rego.
Dalhausser, who ranks third all-time in men’s FIVB gold medals with 38, captured the gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with Todd Rogers after the pair were crowned the world champions at the 2007 event in Gstaad. A three-time Olympian, Dalhausser has also earned more post-season awards (30) than any other player in FIVB beach volleyball history highlighted by the most outstanding honour in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2017.
Phil Dalhausser celebrates a gold medal win at the 2007 FIVB World Championships in Gstaad, SwitzerlandNowotny placed 19th with Peter Gartmayer at the 2004 Olympics after losing in pool play to the Lacigas and Spain's Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera, who dropped the Athens Summer Games gold medal match to Emanuel and Ricardo. Nowotny now works as the team manager for Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst.
Diving for the ball is Robert Nowotny of AustriaWilliams and Julien Prosser placed fourth at the Athens Olympics as the Aussie duo lost twice to Switzerland's Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel, including a 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-13) bronze medal decision in 61 minutes. Williams also played the 2008 FIVB season for the United States where he and Stein Metzger claimed a silver medal at the Klagenfurt Grand Slam.
Mark Williams (left) at the net at the Athens 2004 Olympic GamesVan Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha placed ninth at the 2008 Olympics with two of their setbacks being to teams that reached the Beijing Summer Games finale - Tian Jia/Wang Jie of China 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-13) and Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States 2-0 (24-22, 21-10).
Liesbet Van Breedam of Belgium stretches for the ball at the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesWang, who placed ninth at the Rio 2016 Olympics with Yue Yuan, is currently ranked ninth with Xia Xinyi on both the FIVB World Tour and Tokyo provisional lists. In Wang and Xia’s last FIVB World Tour appearance in November 2019 at Chetumal, the Chinese pair dropped the gold medal match to Australians’ Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy 2-1 (15-21, 21-14, 15-12) in 50 minutes.
China's Wang Fan (left) and Xia Xinyi Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube