How did the Dutch do?
Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst were inches away, grains of sand away, from sending the whole of The Hague into a frenzy in the gold medal match. Watching that YouTube clip back, we’re still not sure who we’re supporting. Because the final was that good. And the crowd! The crowd! Imagine the scenes. Oh well. Anyway, a silver for the duo was a fantastic achievement, even better when you consider the Brazilians took five of the other medals.
The win for Alison/Bruno ended Dutch dreams of winning back-to-back world titles, following Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen’s success in 2013. On home sand the pair got through the pool play, but lost to Vitor Felipe and Alvaro Filho at the first hurdle come the knockout phase.
The Dutch women’s best performers were top seeds Madelein Meppelink and Marleen van Iersel who finished ninth after losing in the second elimination phase to Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy of Australia.
The other Dutch team to reach the knockout phase was Jantine van der Vlist and Sophie van Gestel, but the number 47 seeds were eliminated by eventual fourth-place finishers Holtwick/Semmler.
A special World Championships because
That final! The Dutch… so close! Oh, and Brazil for winning everything (well, almost).
Impress your friends by saying:
It’s the only time in Beach Volleyball World Championship history that there’s been a clean sweep of medals for either gender.
Where are they now?
Reinder Nummerdor, the man, the legend of Dutch beach volleyball. His favorite film? Apparently Shawshank Redemption. Loves Kings of Keon and Gstaad (who doesn’t?) and only started playing beach volleyball at the age of 29. He played volleyball for the Netherlands at two Olympics and then went and appeared at three more (2008, 2012, 2016) as a beach volleyballer. Legend.
His silver medal at the World Championships was one of 21 World Tour medals that the now 42-year-old won during his career. He retired from the beach after the 2016 Olympics. There, he and Christiaan Varenhorst lost to Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen – who went onto win the bronze medal.
Today, Reinder is assistant coach of the Netherlands’ beach teams, including of course, Brouwer/Meeuwsen.
We spoke to him about it last year, and you can read it here.
The championships in three words?
Brazil win five.
Want to read more like this?
Turn back the clock and check out our 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 aaaandddd 2013 stories.