Juliana, Emanuel, Harley leading strong Brazilian teams
Lausanne, Switzerland, April 14, 2011—Hoping that the Brazilian sand continues to produce golden dividends, 11 men and 11 women’s teams from the host country are anxious to start the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Sunday at the Brasília Open in Brazil’s capital city.
In a country filled with superstars on the beach, helping lead the women is Juliana Felisberta Silva, while a pair of legends in the sport - Emanuel Rego and Harley Marques - are at the top of a multi-talented field of Brazilian men’s teams. In a country where its star athletes are known mostly by just one name, Juliana competes with her multi-talented teammate Larissa Franca while the veteran stars Emanuel and Harley are paired with rising stars Alison Cerutti and Thiago Santos Barbosa, respectively.
This year’s FIVB Swatch World Tour starts in Brasília for the third straight year with the women’s competition from Sunday through next Friday and the men’s tournament from Monday through next Saturday. For the first of 12 double-gender events on the 2011 schedule, a total of 80 men’s and 64 women’s teams from 36 countries have officially entered to compete for US$380,000 in Brasília, which will be celebrating its 51st anniversary as the nation’s capital next Thursday.
The FIVB Swatch World Tour event will be held on The Esplanada dos Ministérios in Quadrante 1. This will be the 33rd men’s event and 28th women’s tournament on the FIVB Swatch World Tour held in Brazil. Statistically, the dominance by the Brazilian teams has been impressive, with men’s teams from the host country having captured 58 of the 96 total medals in 32 events and Brazilian women’s teams winning an even more staggering 50 of the 81 total medals award in the 27 previous events in the South American country.
A contributing factor to their success has been the fact that several events on the Brazilian National Tour are always held prior to the seasonopening FIVB Swatch World Tour stop as the international season has opened in Brazil 12 times in the 24-year history of the tour for men and eight in 19 seasons for women. In the last two season-openers in Brasília, Brazil has captured five of six men’s medals and three of six women’s medals. The top women’s team heading into the 2011 season is Brazil’s reigning FIVB Swatch World Tour champions Juliana and Larissa, who are the alltime
FIVB career gold medal winners for women with 36. In 2010, Juliana/Larissa combined to win seven gold medals after winning the season title in 2009 with an FIVB-record eight gold medals. Juliana/Larissa have won the FIVB Swatch World Tour season crown five out of the last six years. They have also won the gold medal in the last three FIVB season openers and five in the last six years.
“The FIVB Swatch World Tour is my favorite time of year,” said Juliana, who has earned US$1,050,975 in her FIVB career and has final four finishes in 70 of 84 tournaments while teaming with Larissa. “Every year, Larissa and I make our preparation focused on the world tour. We travel across the world and play against the best teams. Teams from Brazil have an advantage early in the international season because we are able to play several national tournaments before the world tour starts while most of the other teams are only training. We have had good results on our national tour and we will start the world tour with huge confidence.”
Juliana also is excited about the return of the great American team of Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, who are two-time Olympic champions who haven’t played together on the FIVB Swatch World Tour since winning the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal. “I’m very glad they are back,” Juliana commented. Their presence will raise the level of the tournaments. Playing against them will be our biggest challenge this season. Even if they haven’t played together for some time, they will always be a great team and tough rivals.”
