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Brink and Reckermann make history - London 2012 - Beach Volleyball

09/08/2012

Germany stunned world champions Brazil to take gold in the men's Beach Volleyball as they became the first European team to win the Olympic Games title.

Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann won by two sets to one, 23-21 16-21 16-14, but it took them five match points to settle the contest.

It meant there was no fairytale for Brazil's Emanuel Rego - the 39-year-old who won gold at Athens 2004 and bronze at Beijing 2008 and was competing in his fifth Olympic Games - and Alison Cerutti.

Latvia's Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins took bronze - their country's first medal of London 2012 - in a surprise 2-1 victory over Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuilof the Netherlands.

Reckermann said afterwards: 'It's unbelievable - they have been the best team for the last few years and Emanuel is a living legend, but we knew we had a chance.'

Rego said: 'What a final...it was intense and fantastic in front of 15,000 people. It was a good battle and the Germans did really well, and I think if we had won the first set it would have gone our way.'

Plavins, meanwhile, was delighted to win bronze, and said: 'It was our dream to win a medal in the Olympics and now we have done it and can't really believe we did it.

'No-one believed before we came here that we were going to win a medal.'

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