By David Wharton, Los Angeles Times –
LONDON—No American men will stand on the podium in beach volleyball at the 2012 London Olympics after Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal lost in a stunning upset at Horse Guards Parade on Monday evening.
The fourth-seeded pair lost to 17th-seeded Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia in three sets, 19-21, 21-18, 15-11.
The loss comes three days after second-seeded Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser were knocked out of the competition.
Gibb and Rosenthal lost momentum in the second set when the Latvian pair scrambled to win one crucial point after another.
“We were fighting out there,” Gibb said. “I thought we were going to pull it out.”
Plavins said: “It’s unbelievable. Just unbelievable.”
