20 years ago, Holdren & Rogers net historic gold medal win
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 4, 2020 - Twenty years ago today,
one of the most remarkable runs to win a gold medal was
completed by Americans Dax Holdren and Todd Rogers on a Mexican
beach on the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula.
On this day in 2000 in the Mexican resort town of Rosarito (37
miles, 60 km) south of San Diego, Holdren and Rogers topped the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour podium as the lowest-seeded
main draw team to win a men’s or women’s international beach
volleyball competition.
Since 1996, Holdren and Rogers are the only 32nd-seeded team in
the main draw ever to win a men’s or women’s FIVB World Tour
gold medal as the Americans became the third team ever in the
1990s to win a title after starting the competition in a
qualifier.
The Brazilian pairs of Ze Marco de Melo/Ricardo Santos (1998 Rio
second seeds in qualifier) and Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran
(2000 Guaruja 16th-seeded in qualifier) accomplished the feat
initially. Since Holdren/Rogers’ gold medal success, 28 men’s
teams have accomplished the feat of winning a title after
qualifying for a FIVB World Tour main draw.
Competing in their third-ever FIVB World Tour event together,
Holdren and Rogers had to win five qualifying matches as the
34th-seeded pair in the preliminary rounds where eight duos
advanced to the main draw in the 2000 Olympic qualifying event
at Rosarito.
“Dax and I had won two domestic events,” said the 46-year old
Rogers from his home in Ynez, California, when asked if his team
thought about winning gold in Rosarito. “Thinking we could win
an international event and going through the qualifier to boot
just doesn't happen so I would have to say no.”
Highlighting the qualifying wins was a 15-7 side-out scoring
victory over Austrians Nikki Berger and Oliver Stamm, who
competed together in the 2000 Olympic Games where the pair
almost upset eventual Sydney silver medal winners Ze Marco de
Melo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil in the first elimination round
(16-14).
“I always thought we were seeded 67th with 0 points,” said
Rogers as this team entered the competition with only four
points. “I remember in the qualifier Nikki was the No. 2 seed
and he was annoyed they had to play us. He knew me from playing
against me in college (Berger at Hawai’i and Rogers at UC-Santa
Barbara) and knew Dax and I would be a tough draw.”
After defeating the Austrians, Holdren and Rogers posted wins
over American rivals seventh-seeded Bill Boullianne/Ian Clark
(15-7) and eighth-seeded Brent Doble/Karch-Kiraly (15-5) to
advance from the qualifier. Adam Johnson, Kiraly’s regular
partner, missed the event due to injuries.
In the Rosarito main draw, Holdren and Rogers posted a 15-13 win
over top-seeded Ze Marco and Ricardo.
“I remember they were asleep in the first round of the tourney,”
said Rogers, who is now coach beach volleyball at Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo. “I knew they were really good, and we had nothing
to lose. They took us lightly pretty much shooting every ball
(even Ricardo) and I recall jumping out to a lead. Fortunately,
we scooped enough balls and had enough aces to get to 15 points
before they woke up!”
After upsetting the Brazilians, Holdren and Rogers defeated four
more Olympic team that competed in the 1996, 2000 and 2004
Summer Games starting with a 15-8 win over 17th-seeded Francisco
Alvarez and Juan Rosell of Cuba.
“I remember thinking how ridiculously athletic Alvarez and
Rosell were and trying to be as nice as possible to them so they
wouldn't get excited and start playing to their potential,” said
Rogers of the Cubans, who placed seventh at the Atlanta Olympics
and 17th in the Athens Summer Games. “Alvarez wanted to dig the
driven ball, not run down shots, so we shot 95% of the balls.”
Holdren and Rogers advanced to the final four with a 15-13 win
over 25th-seeded Jody Holden/Conrad Leinemann of Canada and
15-10 over 21st-seeded Mikhail Kouchnerev/Serguei Ermichin of
Russia. Both the Canadians and Russians placed ninth at the
Sydney Olympics.
“We played Holden and Leinemann at the 1997 FIVB World
Championships in Los Angeles,” Rogers added, “and beat them so
we came in confident against them. Ended up being a sideout
battle and we fortunately prevailed.”
Rogers said the Russian pair was “an interesting team. 'Kouch'
was super athletic but a little out of control and Ermichin
(nicknamed "The Creature”) was enormous at the net for that day
and age. I remember we served well and got them in trouble that
way.”
In the semifinals, Holdren and Rogers posted a 15-13 win in 71
minutes over the third-seeded Swiss Laciga brothers (Martin and
Paul), who won the silver medal at the 1999 FIVB World
Championships in France and placed fifth at both the Sydney and
Athens Olympics.
“We were pretty tired and just went after our serves really
tough,” said Rogers of meeting with the Swiss. “They did the
same thing and in the end we served two points better than they
did. Probably a lot of missed serves in that game though.”
In the Rosarito finale that featured two American pairs, Holdren
and Rogers posted a 15-12 victory in 55 minutes over
seventh-seeded Rob Heidger and Kevin Wong, who placed fifth at
the Sydney Olympics after being eliminated by compatriots Dain
Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana in the Bondi Beach quarterfinals.
“It was our 11th match in Rosarito and our legs were giving
out,” Rogers noted. “Our game plan was to shoot every ball
unless they dropped since it was two guys that were both really
good blockers but not particularly good defenders in terms of
running down shots.
Rogers said he remembered “getting stuffed on the one ball I hit
in transition when Rob stayed up. Only ball I hit all game. We
had the advantage in serving and went for it big time to create
our points. Not necessarily aces but drop, dig and transition
for points. Helped they were from the United States, so we knew
them and had beaten them before, albeit not as a team.”
As for his FIVB gold medal wins and not counting the world
(2007) and Olympic (2008) titles, Rogers said the win in Mexico
was memorable “since we had to go through the qualifier and
country quota. Defeating the top seed was really pretty special.
Reality is we were going down to have fun and enjoy ourselves
and hopefully make a few bucks too. Ended up doing all of the
above and then some!”
Rogers added that there was a “secret to our success! The hotel
we were at was only partially finished but had a bar on the
first floor right next to the lobby. It was an open air bar with
a nice breeze blowing through it every evening. Dax and I got
down there the day before the event for the qualifying meeting.
After the meeting we went into the bar and an old bartender was
the only person there. We ordered a margarita on the rocks. TO
THIS DAY HE MADE THE BEST MARGARITA ON THE ROCKS I HAVE EVER
HAD! So, after every day of playing, Dax and I went into the
bar. Every day it was the same old bartender and every time we
ordered a margarita on the rocks!”
The Holdren-Rogers’ 13-event FIVB partnership ended after the
2001 season as the pair finished fifth together in their last
international appearance at the 2001 World Championships in
Klagenfurt where the Americans lost in the quarterfinals to
eventual gold medal winners Martin Conde and Mariano Baracetti
of Argentina in three sets.
Holdren, who has recently returned to his hometown of Santa
Barbara, and Stein Metzger placed fifth in the Athens 2004
Olympics Games after being eliminated by eventual bronze medal
winners Patrick Heuscher/Stefan Kobel of Switzerland in a
three-set quarterfinal match. The Americans solidified their
spot in the Summer Games by placing second in the 2003 FIVB
World Championships where Emanuel Rego and Ricardo won the gold
medal match. |