In the Olympic final, the German beach duo Ehlers-Wickler were unable to fulfill their hopes of winning gold. They say their heads weren’t playing along.
The crushing defeat in the final meant that the German beach volleyball duo Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler were initially not very happy about winning the silver medal. “Maybe we wanted too much. We had our eyes on gold and then our heads went completely blank,” said Wickler after the 0:2 (10:21, 13:21) defeat against David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig from Sweden.
During the warm-up, he had the best feeling of the entire tournament. “And then we go out onto the field and everything is completely gone. Legs are completely heavy. There was definitely something that happened to us mentally,” said the 29-year-old.
Duo can’t get into the game
Against the Swedish tournament favorites, the German team showed almost nothing of the qualities that had paved the way to the final. “We couldn’t get into the game at all, and unfortunately played our worst game of the season in the final,” said Berlin-born Ehlers.
“It hurts unbelievably badly, because not being able to focus on the stage and perform like that is very, very disappointing and really knocks you down,” said the 30-year-old. But with time, the joy of what has been achieved will come. “Standing here with the medal around my neck also fills me with pride. And that’s also important, to realize that more and more, to convince yourself more and more,” he said. “And at some point I’ll be sure, I’ll believe it 100 percent.”
The Hamburg team doesn’t have much time to celebrate their silver or be annoyed about their missed opportunities because of their international schedule. The European Championships in the Netherlands begin for them on Wednesday.
Source: Stern
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