Never before has the world witnessed anything like what Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig did on Saturday evening in the finals of the Paris Olympic Games.
A win over Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler? That could have been expected. Sweden had done so 10 consecutive times heading into the gold medal match of the Paris Olympics, and six times in 2024 alone.
But a 21-10, 21-13 pounding? The most lopsided win in an Olympic final in history? A margin wider than any of the golds by Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings? With Ehlers and Wickler peaking, on the heels of their first career victories over Anders Mol and Christian Sorum in Thursday’s semifinals?
It was, suffice it to say, a statement.
Yes, Sweden came into Paris as the No. 1 seed. Yes, they were the No. 1-ranked team in the world, and have been for months. Yes, they had made 10 straight finals before Paris, a run that dates back to more than a calendar year. But many in the beach volleyball world still couldn’t shake the notion that Mol and Sorum had been supplanted by the 22-year-old jump-setters who are actively revolutionizing the way the game is played.
Sweden hasn’t won a World Championship. They haven’t yet sustained what Mol and Sorum have for so long.
And yet, after Saturday, there is no other choice. There is no longer a debate.
Sweden is the greatest beach volleyball team in the world.
They are ushering in a new era of ball control and movement and setting that those within the game cannot help but adopt, or at the very least adapt in an attempt to halt or slow the Swedes.
What we witnessed on Saturday was a seminal moment in the sport.
There will be a Before Sweden and an After Sweden.
Currently, it is neither before nor after. It is, simply, Sweden’s time.
“They are the best team in the world,” Wickler told Volleyball World. “If you look at the last two years, how many times they won gold medals on the highest stage, and they were top-seeded in this Olympic Games, so I think any medal other than gold would have been disappointing for them. They are very, very strong.”
Once pool play concluded, and Sweden exorcised whatever nervy issues that led to two losses in three matches — as many as they had the entire season — there was no stopping them. Only Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz, who played…
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