PARIS — No more American women left in the beach volleyball field at the Paris Games. No more hope of the U.S. women bringing a gold medal back to the sport’s birthplace for the fifth time in six Olympics.
Switzerland ousted Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes on Tuesday night, a day after the other U.S. women’s team of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth and American men Chase Budinger and Miles Evans were defeated at Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Only the last remaining U.S. men’s team of Andy Benesh and Miles Partain stands in the way of the first American medal shutout since the sport that was conceived on the coasts of Hawaii and California joined the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996.
“I so appreciate and I’ve loved to see the legacy of the United States and beach volleyball, and would have loved to continue that legacy,” Cheng, who made it one round farther than she did in Tokyo, said. “It wasn’t our time.”
Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli beat the Americans 21-18, 21-19 to advance to the semifinals, winning one point in a back-and-forth second set when Brunner made a kick save with her left foot. When the two arrived in the mix zone, the point was playing on the nearby TV, and they stood there smiling as they watched the replay.
“We had to enjoy this one…
