“Inhumane” – Brazilian Duo Rips World Tour Schedule

Gstaad Five Star – Beach Major Series

• Gstaad, Switzerland
• July 9-15, 2018
• Schedule/Results
• Live Streaming
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Ricardo Santos and Gustavo Carvalhães had a very rough volleyball week. After reaching the finals at Espinho Sunday, the duo boarded a plane, and less than 20 hours later, they were eliminated at the country-quota stage of the Gstaad Open. After the ordeal, Gustavo was infuriated with the situation (globo.com):

“We left our hotel in Porto at 11:30 pm, to board a flight at 03:00 to Zurich, where we arrived at 06:30 am and boarded a train to Gstaad. We arrived at Gstaad at 1 pm, slept for two hours, and headed to the game at 4:30. All of this, having played 5 consecutive days. This is inhumane. Tired? We are dead. Exhausted. Still, we took to the court and gave our best, but our bodies did not respond. We are not machines. With this, we say goodbye to Gstaad. Sad to know that we were eliminated due to physical limitations. I am sad to see that the competition did not even have 32 teams in the qualifying tournament and we would be ranked 1. Did we even need a country quota? We are coming from a final in the last competition. Why start a competition the day after the end of another? It was not the first or the last time that this will happen. This the result of the inhuman rush we have to face from one competition to another.”

This is the second time that Gustavo goes through such an ordeal in the last twelve months. If he, at 24 years of age, expressed such a reaction, imagine Ricardo, who is 43? Considering that beach players live off prize money earnings, FIVB needs to desperately do something to favor the players’ well-being during its World Tour stages, specially considering the obvious conclusion that most players participating at the 4-Star Espinho Open would also play at the 5-Star Gstaad Major.

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5 dias consecutivos de competição 🔜 9 jogos 🔜 arrumar as malas e ir para o aeroporto às 11pm 🔜 vôo às 3am para Zurich 🔜 trem/carro para Gstaad e finalmente chegar ao local da competição às 1pm. Acabou? Não! 2 horas para descansarmos, comermos e nos prepararmos para o jogo das 4:30pm. Cansados? Mortos. Exaustos. Mas mesmo assim entramos em quadra e demos o nosso melhor. O corpo não respondeu. Por mais que a gente ache (e tente) não somos máquinas (longe disso, aliás). Com isso nos despedimos de Gstaad no Contry Cota. Triste por sabermos que estivemos diante de limitações físicas. Triste por ver que a competição não teve sequer 32 times no torneio classificatório e que seríamos ranking 1. Precisávamos mesmo de um country cota? Ainda mais vindos de uma final na última competição (ontem, aliás)? Porque não abrir o torneio classificatório como o tênis ? Porque começar uma competição no dia seguinte ao término de outra? O nível do vôlei de praia mundial é altíssimo e qualquer dupla, repito, qualquer dupla, pode ser campeã! Independente de ter vindo do classificatório ou não. Em Espinho duas das três duplas do pódio vieram do torneio classificatório. Não foi a primeira nem a última vez que isso vai acontecer. Fica aqui a reflexão sobre essa correria desumana de uma competição para outra. E apesar dos pesares a gratidão e felicidade pelo que fizemos na última semana em Espinho. Descansar agora é a palavra de ordem (e de necessidade). Obrigado a todos por toda torcida! Really tired and upset with the lost at Country Cota here in Gstaad. It was really hard to us to play 6 days at Espinho, 2 matches Yesterday and less than 24h later be at Gstaad to play the Country Cota. It is crazy. Crazy and sad mainly when we know that the qualification tournament is not full and we supposed to be the team number one at the qualification. I am only 24 and I am very tired. I can not imagine how my partner with 43 is. Is insane. We are athletes but not machines and our body does not work like this. We need to respect our limits and our limits does not let us to play today. Beside that, I would like to say thanks for everybody that supoort us. You are ansewome.

A post shared by Guto Carvalhaes (@gutocarvalhaes) on Jul 9, 2018 at 11:54am PDT