Road to Paris: France Goes CLUTCH Mode in Continental Cup, and the Netherlands Gets Weird

On this episode of the Road to Paris, Travis Mewhirter breaks down the European Continental Cup — a fancy way of saying Olympic trial — where France’s Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Teo Rotar, and Julien Lyneel and Remi Bassereau went absolute clutch mode and clinched a second Olympic spot for the French men. Meanwhile, four young Dutch women, Brecht Piersma and Wies Bekhuis, and Kirsten Broring and Emi van Driel, won the bid for the women…or so you might think.

But a weird rule in the Netherlands has muddied things up a bit, and Mewhirter explains what in the world is happening (as best he can).

Thanks as always to Producers 1 and 2, for you, the viewers. Happy Father’s Day all!

SHOOTS!

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[Music] say rolling rolling daddy Travis we’re rolling we got producer one and producer two back there rolling special day uh here in the sancast studios our Bay View Studios because it is Father’s day well the day after Father’s Day so happy ated Father’s Day I got my dad hat on says Dad established 2023 shout out Cody mder for the gift absolutely love it and a shout out to all the dads out there all the people who love their Dads Dads are important figures in the world and we appreciate him and um a lot of people uh actually they’ve been asking about this picture behind us because it’s pretty iconic so it’s the finals from the Manhattan open of 1976 it was the cover that Kent stephus and I used for The Kings of Summer and I have no idea where you get it this was a gift from Marcio seoli he had it up in the Pepperdine office it’s up on Sixth Street if you’re in HOSA at Granny’s groceries and Jak Gib has one but I have no idea where we got it and I don’t know how you get this this photo but uh yeah it’s iconic and I hope that you can get your hands on it cuz you had a bunch of people say how can I buy that photo don’t know uh but if you’re looking for a Father’s Day gift that would be a fun one to get a father for next year of course how did I spend mine down at a better at beach Clinic with Mark berck so glad to be back up here with the producers we’re going to be celebrating uh with a trip to yede this weekend so this will be the last road to Paris for a while I will not be able to recap the Nora Continental Cup Africa Asia and what’s left South America but what this one is is a recap of what to me was the most interesting by far to me as far as the Continental cup Power Rankings go in terms of Interest I went Europe Asia Nora South America Africa because for Nora it’s basically a battle for the men with Sam Shaker Dan Dearing vers Mexico anyone else who makes it I would be shocked for the women it’s Sophie bukovich Heather bansley verse Tanis Gutierrez of BR Flores from Mexico and Alanis novice and Maria Gonzalez of Puerto Rico so there’s really three teams in contention there for Asia it is Chinese women Japanese women New Zealand women those are the big three for the men you got the New Zealand men we just had Sam oday and Brad Fuller on the podcast they’ll be dropping on Wednesday doing a little preview with them of the Asian Continental cup that’ll drop on Thursday so be on the look for that but the New Zealand men Australian men very strong Chinese men are solid so that one will be interesting I believe that will be streamed on YouTube at AVC is the channel and so I won’t be recapping that because we’ll be in yed next weekend and then we come back from Eed leave for Montana for the sandcast Tour event in Montana and then as soon as I get from Montana I will pretty much shower repack my bags and then I’m off for stad I get back from stad and then I’m commentating Vienna so this is going to be the last road to Paris for a long time until we get to the actual Olympic games you can hear producer to in the background it’s all right buddy let him know let him know that the Olympic games are coming up it’s exciting and so this is recapping the European Continental cup and a huge huge huge congratulations goes out to Francis Arno gatier and Teo rotar and Julian lenil and and Remy basso and by extension youf crew so the whole this whole Olympic quad there has just been this sort of back and forth chat between who is going to get the French men’s wild card is it going to be the indoor Stars with the indoor star attraction and Julian Lil Remy bass R phenomenal athletes very talented players or is it going to go to arnno gatier and youf crew who have been grinding and grinding and grinding and are results wise the better Beach team and I I think that that’s fairly objective but then you watch Remy and lenal and just the way that they play it’s sort of must watch television and I know that they’re big stars and friends and so you’re going for the star power attraction wild card or you’re going for the guys who have sort of earned it by grinding now they don’t have to make the decision because they won the Continental cup and they did it in such a cool fashion so Yousef crew gets injured in ostrava he has to pull out in comes Teo rotar the Young Buck and I’ve been really high on rotar for a long time I played him in Sophia Bulgaria in a onear which has since been renamed a Futures and at the time he was very raw with his partner Arthur K and I lost to him and I was like man we shouldn’t have lost to that team but then I watched them two years later take Andrew mole Christian sorum to three at European championships in Vienna and they were all grown up and rotar is all grown up and I tried to warn you all about him in guadalahara when I shot that preview with Fredo lakina Happy Father’s Day to you by the way that rotar has been he’s all grown up about to play uh with the young Frenchies ta rotar and Arthur K I played against them in Sophia Bulgaria a couple years ago and I was like sort of embarrassed that I lost to them and now they’re so good went to three with Anders and Christian in the European championships just last year and they’ve grown up big time it’s been really fun watching them Blossom and so we’re about to have a little hourong practice with them French coach is running it I just get to be the assistant ball shagger guy and take some notes from professional coaches all around the world so we’ll see how it goes and tri born and I we have we’ve actually been joking that we think that France hasn’t yet put together their best team because we think that gatier and rotar is the best team then they come out in the Continental cup what what they do they go 6 and0 they take down Lucas fer and Sven winter of Germany one of the hottest teams in the world right now they take down Lithuania they beat Dressler Waller in the finals and then in the golden set boom they do it again beat Dressler Waller in the golden set for the Olympic bid 1510 absolute clutch performance from gatier and rotar lenil and basso they did their job as well they played very well and so huge congratulations to France and that just takes so much stress off the French Federation that they don’t have to play favorites they don’t have to pick one team over the other and now because Lana plette and Alexia Rashard they qualified via points their wild card will go to the number two team I can only assume that that’s going to be aen shamro and Clem Vieira and so France will have the full boat they’ll have all four teams into the Olympic Games I would assume I would assume that the bid is going to go to crew and gati when the Olympics comes around if crew is healthy I don’t know for sure now if hurt I would really have to assume that that’s going to go to teor rotar because he I mean dude just earned it he goes 6 and0 in the Continental cup when him and G haven’t played together before that’s badass from The Young rotar so a big big congratulations to France and it’s good for the sport too because you always want your home Federation to have four competitive home teams the stands are going to be packed in front of one of the coolest venues you’re going to see in the sport right there at the foot of the Eiffel Tower so massive congratulations to France they no longer have any weird politicking or favorite picking problems it’s just you got your four teams in the rent big job big congratulations good job for gatier rotar lenil and basso well done now the men’s field was simplified the women’s field just got weirder so for the Netherlands you have and these names I am so sorry if I butcher these names I’m trying my best Weiss beis and Emmy vanriel and Christian boring and BR Piera so it’s Piera played with Beck whiz Emmy vanriel who has been one of the brighter talents coming up for the Dutch women for a long time with her sister Maxim her and christien braing they played together and they go through and they win and so you would think that that’s it right the the Dutch women they get the Continental cup bid just as they did in Tokyo where katam and rkon they ended up winning a a match the next day to punch their ticket into Tokyo but it’s not that simple so the Dutch Federation has this really interesting rule in place where if you qualify for the Olympic Games but you have not finished top eight in Elite 16 you cannot go to the Olympic Games now the point from what I understand from what cuz this rule to me it makes no sense and I I hope they wave it because the Dutch women they earned their spot the way that the ioc has laid it out that you can win it via the Olympic trial that is the Continental cup but they the the thinking behind it is that they do not want to send a team that is going to get humiliated in the Olympics and so you have this standard that you have to meet where even if you qualify we’re not going to send you because we don’t want you to just to just send you to the Olympics and feed you to the Lions we want you to have proven that you can actually compete in the Olympics now they’re not the only Federation to do this other federations have similar rules that apply for New Zealand for instance I believe you have to beat a team someone in your Federation has to beat a team that is in the top 16 in the world otherwise they’re not going to the Olympics now New Zealand just had a team that beat Isaac carrier and Mark nicus of Australia who just won their pool and took a fifth at the espinho elite 16 so there’s sort of a transitive property thing going on there but Ben and Brad they elaborate on that uh a little bit more in Wednesday’s episode and so that’s the thinking behind what on the surface is a bizarre Rule and even when you understand the thinking behind it it’s still a pretty bizarre Rule and I’ll give a a credit to the girls so the next day a newspaper in the Netherlands they run a story explaining what’s going on and it says I quote the surprising Triumph earned the Netherlands a second ticket to the Olympics based on their world ranking kacham and rasun are already sure participation in Paris the beach volleyball tournament will almost certainly take place under the Eiffel Tower a great Prospect Piera realizes but I quote I don’t dare think about anything yet first I’m going to assume the worst that I’m not going because this second ticket does not guarantee participation that has to do with the conditions that nooc NSF has attached to the trip to Paris the sports umbrella also requires a ranking among the best eight in a so-called Elite 16 none of us managed that pierus said there won’t be that possibility in the near future either however piersma and Beck whis they won Gold at a Futures in spe Switzerland and then they won silver at a Futures in Bulgaria where they beat Karly Khan and mdty Anderson they beat Kennedy kley and Brook sweat not huge wins by any means but it’s hard to win a tournament they want a tournament they got silver in another and then they won the Continental cup and had to beat a very good Czech Federation to get there and there were generally there’s about four pretty strong federations on the women’s side fiveish when you extend it to Poland and so you have the Netherlands you have Italy you have the Czech Republic you have Poland and you have Austria Austria ends up losing to the Netherlands in the semi-finals in a golden set that went 1917 very competitive the Czech Republic beat Italy and then they beat the Czech Republic both of them went to three sets you got bar hermanova Mar s Stova bar has already been to several Olympic Games she’s obviously an Elite Talent so even though they didn’t get top eight in Elite 16 they’ve still proven that they can beat an elite team and so this week volleyball Federation noobo will consult with no NSF to plead for sending a second women’s beach volleyball Duo it must be made clear that this pair can also finish amongst the best eight in Paris should that request be granted and now here it gets even hairier it will be up to the National coach to determine which two players that will be and I’m back to quoting pierce the four of us now realize that very well it is quite a strange feeling first you take this very last chance for the Olympic ticket and then you look at each other with the idea only two of us get to go if we get permission suddenly you are also bit of Rivals we said to each other as a quartet that we are now going to enjoy this Victory first it’s bizarre it was of course also for those other countries their last chance many of the teams would have been definitely sure of the game that they had won we knew beforehand that this was not the case for us we simply agreed to do our best and wait and see what would happen we just came by as it were and then we grabbed the cup here so one awesome maturity and Poise from BR Pier I mean hats off literally to you incredible responses from her and in a really weird situation I hope that the Netherlands just does the right thing and that they understand that they have a very competitive team no matter the four players no matter the two they pick out of the four and they send two Paris if they choose to send them to Paris now in the case that the Netherlands upholds the rule and says we’re not going to send that team to Paris because they didn’t do what was laid out in our rules it will then as I understand it trickle down to to bar hermanova and Marie s Stova of the Czech Republic or it would just go to the Czech Republic I would assume that they would send bar and sakova instead of their twos team that would be what I’d assume but again it’s not safe to assume anything but I just wanted to run this road to Paris to give you guys a a briefer on what is going on there because even though it sounds simple enough you win the Continental cup you send a team that’s it of course this is beach volleyball what would beach volleyball be if didn’t have random obscure rules to make it difficult more difficult to follow so a congratulations to France a congratulations to the Netherlands and so next up for this road to Paris I will shoot one probably when I get back from Vienna I will be on the mic in shd I’ll be on the mic in Vienna and I’m hoping to team up with Brian Cook actually to do a little preview putting odds down and all the metal favorites based on his true volley system it’ll be something of that and then I’ll probably just put a Community post up after the remaining four Continental cups and just let you know who won those bids I would have to give a huge favorite to Sam and Dan of Canada for winning the men’s bid big favorite to Sophie and Heather for the women’s bits we’ll see how that plays out thanks as always for tuning in to the road to Paris and thank you to my producers for making me a father best honor I have ever held and so we will see you guys I’ll on Wednesday with the New Zealand boys and I will see you when I get back from Vienna in quite a bit shoot [Laughter]