Welcome to another edition of Beach Shorts, the second in the month of May. Things are slowly starting to get back to normal and beach volleyball is no exception with players from a few countries in Europe being allowed to return to their training facilities, even if with several restrictions.
This week’s edition of the column comes with very special news coming from Australia, a retirement announcement in Switzerland and yet another event that included beach volleyball being postponed.
Buckle up and here we go!
Clancy the face of Olympic coins in Australia
The Australian government recently launched its collection of coins to the Tokyo Olympics and beach volleyball star Taliqua Clancy was featured in one of them. The bronze medalist of last year’s World Championships was chosen to feature the one dollar Olympic coin launched by the country and has her image carved on it.
Dunja Gerson announces her retirement
Swiss defender Dunja Gerson used the forced break to announce the end of her playing career at the age of 24. A tenacious defender, Gerson has won a World Tour event in Morocco in 2017 and has appeared in 11 Beach Major Series events – her older brother Mirco is also a professional player. Her partner Laura Caluori will now join forces with Anna Lutz.
Best of luck moving forward, Dunja!
World Beach Games 2021 postponed
The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) has announced that the 2021 edition of the World Beach Games, which includes a 4x4 version of beach volleyball in the program, will be postponed to 2023. The decision was made so the event doesn’t conflict the Olympics, which were supposed to take place this summer but were moved to 2021.
