May, Walsh the best U.S. sports can offer

“To beat the U.S., we had to be perfect, and we didn’t do that,” said Ribeiro after the thrashing. “To beat them would be very difficult since they are just perfect.”

The two Americans, who teamed up back in 2001 and started winning the following year, took the praise and returned it.

“It’s an honor to be up here with these great players,” Walsh said of her opponents. May-Treanor predicted that the Brazilians will win the bronze on Thursday in their match against a second Chinese team of Xue Chen and Zhang Xi.

May-Treanor was already playing beach volleyball when Walsh switched from the indoor version of the sport to the beach. Although May-Treanor is at 31 just one year older than Walsh, the younger woman had idolized her as a player and becoming her partner seemed a dream.

A natural athlete from an athletic family, Walsh said her first few months on the beach nearly cured her of the sport. “I was totally awkward,” she said. “I’ve been an athlete all my life, and I’d never had that feeling.”

But they were a natural team. May-Treanor is even more athletic than Walsh, and their combination of speed and size made them winners. Their work ethic kept them at the top.

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After winning gold at Athens four years ago, they took their game apart and rebuilt it, adding strategy and precision passing to a game that had reached the top of the world on raw athletic talent.

Both have married — May-Treanor to Marlins catcher Matt Treanor and Walsh to fellow beach volleyball professional Casey Jennings. And both say they want to start families after Beijing. But they’re not ready to quit, wondering aloud about what it would be like to travel with small children and continue to compete through the 2012 London Games.

"We're not done. We are absolutely not done," Walsh said. "We came here to win."

And then to sign autographs, thank the help and represent themselves and their country as few ever have.

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