Clemens Wickler and Julius Thole could have been nervous in the first set against the Japanese duo Ishijima / Shiratori. 13:12 it just stood, the DJ in Shiokaze Park actually played the song of a band whose name includes the term “panic”. Instead of Panic at the disco would have it Panic in the sand can give – but it didn’t. Wickler and Thole stayed calm, even grinning after mistakes, and in the end, they won this important game with 21:16, 21:11. You have reached the round of 16 in beach volleyball in second place and are avoiding the play-in situation (third party with a poor record play for the remaining places in the knockout round).
“It’s an incredible feeling to be in the round of 16 at our first Olympic Games. It’s really cool,” said Thole in the mixed zone. “We are now in the round of 16 and we don’t have a lot of free space to concentrate on more. We’re not doing badly with that,” said Thole.
One of the more important things life learns – besides the fact that love is a strange game and all striving is ultimately just chasing the wind: don’t panic. Most things are just the way they are; it would be completely nonsensical to get excited or even to worry. Thole and Wickler have internalized exactly this attitude.
Regarding the lack of spectators in Tokyo, Wickler says: “We have no comparison, so we don’t know what we’re missing out on.” About the difficult preparation due to injuries: “Disaster year, but nothing helps.” And about the defeat at the beginning of the Olympic tournament: “We just had to get up a bit.”
They actually feared leaving early. They had just lost against the Italian duo Nicolai / Lupo, silver medal winners in Rio in 2016 (21:19, 19:21, 13:15), so they faced the Polish team Kantor / Losiak, against which they played four games Had lost four times, already under pressure. After a nervous start, they won by 22:20, 21:15; Wickler said afterwards: “We definitely had to nibble on the defeat in the first game. But we showed that we are mentally and physically on top. It was fun.” So: don’t panic, stay relaxed.
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The two have been playing together since 2018, and a year later they won silver at the World Cup in Hamburg; By contrast, 2021 has so far been “a year of disaster” for them, as Wickler said. In March his appendix was removed; when he recovered, Thole tore an ankle ligament. They are therefore not as well-rehearsed as they would like to be – but setbacks can of course also motivate. It helps the German duo that the Olympic schedule in this discipline is exceptionally airy, Thole can regenerate after games and that they have now avoided the detour via the play-in.
Thole blocks with his 2.06 meters – Wickler is the burrower
They are an unequal couple, just as Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, 2012 Olympic gold medalists in London, were an unequal couple. The 2.06 meter tall Thole is the blocker on the net, Wickler, on the other hand, is on the square of the Wusler and Wühler. But, and that was also evident in this game against Japan: You are not pegged into position and can sometimes astonish opponents with improvised actions. Just like in the first round, when Wickler didn’t hang up for the larger Thole, but smashed it directly over the network with the second contact. Or in the second sentence, when Thole occasionally let himself fall back when the opponents attacked.
Thole, 24, and Wickler, who is two years older, have now really arrived at this tournament. The heat in Tokyo (the thermometer next to the net read almost 40 degrees) doesn’t seem to bother them much – there is nothing they can do about it, so they take it and deal with it. This is also important in this tournament, in which Wickler actually identified 16 favorites (and experts did not name many fewer), in the round of 16 on Monday you cannot face a team that finishes the group stage first. The opponent has not yet been determined, but the attitude of the German team is.