“In Rome we chose the tactic of winning the group, then we were eliminated in the first round by the Brazilians, who ended up taking silver. We realized that the tactic of moving up from third place with the scratched ears was much better. And it really worked,” Schweiner said.

At last year’s World Cup, the Czechs topped the group, but were then eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and finished tied for 17th place. Two months later, they celebrated European silver in Munich and won their first medal in the most prestigious event.

“Until then, we were a team that had been at the top of the world for a while, but we were missing a medal in a major event. The silver from the European Championship gave us some confidence for the next tournaments. We lacked that in Rome last year,” Perušič said. .

Thanks to this title, the Prague beach volleyball players from Mexico, who prepared to face the high altitudes in Prague in a hyperbaric chamber, were the only ones to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.

They would like to improve their appetite there next year after the unsuccessful first under the five rings in Tokyo, where they lost a match the previous year due to Perušič’s positive coronavirus test. This is also why they ultimately did not progress from the group.

“It’s a huge relief for us ahead of the Olympics. During the summer, due to my injury, we missed a few opportunities to achieve relevant results before the Olympics. We thought a lot about how to build the rest of our team. Olympic qualification. From this point of view, the World Championships helped us a lot,” he said.

Coach Andrea Tomatis and Czech beach volleyball manager Vít Mařík recalled the difficult beginnings of cooperation in 2016.

“At that time I thought a lot about whether to train them. Honestly, I knew nothing about them, they were completely unknown. After these seven years, I have to say it was a great decision”, said the Italian. coach.

“The story is also amazing in that the boys started from the bottom. At first, they even slept on a bench at airports,” Mařík added.