Jump-setting Swedes beat Germany to win the Olympic beach volleyball gold medal

PARIS (AP) — Jump-setting Swedes David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig aren't the types to take their time.

The beach volleyball pioneers were the No. 1 team in the world by 22, an age when many of their competitors hadn't even switched from the indoor game to the sand. And when Ahman and Hellvig reached the final at their first Olympics, they didn't need long to claim the gold medal.

Sweden dispatched Germany in 36 minutes to win the men's beach volleyball championship at the Paris Games on Saturday night, beating Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler 21-10, 21-13 in the final competition at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.

One night after the Brazilian women beat Canada for gold in a tense three-setter, the men’s championship was completely lacking in suspense.

“Everything just worked for us. And I still don’t believe how we managed to play that well, actually,” Hellvig said. “And then the match was just over.”

It was the second-fastest match of the men's competition and the biggest blowout (not counting the one injury forfeit). And it came in the most important game of the Olympics.

“I would love to fight more, to have a closer match,” Wickler said. “We played many games against them — also very close. We never lost that hard against them. And on this stage, it’s very disappointing for sure.”

The quick and lopsided match gave the Swedes in the crowd of 13,000 under the twinkling lights of the iconic Parisian landmark a head start on the party.

With faces painted in yellow and blue, they waved flags and chanted in Swedish for the first Olympic beach volleyball medal in the nation's history. When it was over, the venue DJ cranked up the ABBA and the fans sang along.

Mamma Mia, indeed.

“We wanted to do our best game of the year, right now in front of this amazing crowd, in front of so many people. And everybody’s watching,” the 6-foot-11 (2.11 meter) Ehlers said. “And I think, maybe, that’s kind of the problem.”

The Swedes used an innovative style to reach the finals of seven consecutive major international tournaments, propelling them this spring to No. 1 in the world rankings. With a “Swedish jump-set,” the player jumps to spike and passes instead — but only sometimes — forcing opponents to defend against both at the same time.

The pair struggled in the preliminary round, losing two of their three group stage matches. They needed three sets to beat Cuba in the round of 16 but never lost another set — and only trailed once, briefly, in the next three matches.

On septuple match point Saturday night, Ahman sent a second-touch kill shot into the corner for the game winner.

“When we we got the last point in, I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. “Like, looking over at the scoreboard like, ‘Oh, we we just won. What happened?’”

The silver is Germany's first men's beach volleyball medal since winning gold at the 2012 London Games, though the women won it all in Rio de Janeiro four years later.

“The moment we got the medal around our neck, it feels amazing. And even the next moment we remember what we’ve done in the final and feel sad again. So it’s an up and down,” Ehlers said. “I think it needs more time to realize and to appreciate more what we’ve done the last two weeks.”

Wickler was only one in the match with previous Olympic experience, finishing fifth in Tokyo. The same year, Ahman and Hellvig won a world championship — the under-21 world championship.

“The last few years, our development and improvements as a team has been so fast,” Hellvig said. “We don’t really know how we did it, but it just feels amazing.”

Earlier Saturday, Norway won 21-13, 21-16 over Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, who won the bronze medal in Tokyo. It was the second medal-winning Olympics in a row for Anders Mol and Christian Sorum and a proud medal haul for Scandinavian countries known more for snow than sand.

In the women’s bracket, Brazil won gold one Olympiad after the sport’s spiritual home was shut out for the first time since beach volleyball was added to the Summer Games in 1996. No such luck for the Americans, who won seven of the first 12 gold medals on the sand: They were shut out for the first time in history.

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This story has been corrected to show that Germany only won the men's gold medal in 2012. A previous version said that the country swept the men's and women's.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Sweden's Jonatan Hellvig, left, and Sweden's David Ahman, right, celebrate after winning the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Norway's Anders Berntsen Mol serves to Qatar during the beach volleyball men•s bronze medal match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Qatar's Ahmed Tijan, left, scores a point against Norway during the beach volleyball men's bronze medal match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Qatar's Ahmed Tijan spikes the ball against Norway during the beach volleyball men's bronze medal match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Norway's Anders Berntsen Mol, right, and Norway's Christian Sandlie Sorum celebrate after beating Qatar to win the beach volleyball men's bronze medal match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Germany's Nils Ehlers, left, and Germany's Clemens Wickler in action during the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Sweden's David Ahman celebrates winning a point during the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

during the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Sweden's Jonatan Hellvig, left, and Sweden's David Ahman, right, celebrate after winning the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Spectators watch from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower after the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Swedish fans celebrate after Sweden's David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig won the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Germany's Nils Ehlers, right, and Germany's Clemens Wickler react during the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Germany's Nils Ehlers, left, and Germany's Clemens Wickler react after losing the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sweden's David Ahman, facing, embraces Sweden's Jonatan Hellvig after winning the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Sweden's David Ahman, bottom, and Sweden's Jonatan Hellvig celebrate after winning the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sweden's David Ahman celebrates after winning the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sweden's Jonatan Hellvig, left, and Sweden's David Ahman, right, celebrate after winning the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Sweden's Jonatan Hellvig spikes the ball past Germany's Nils Ehlers during the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Sweden's David Ahman, facing, embraces Sweden's Jonatan Hellvig after winning the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sweden's David Ahman dives to get the ball during the beach volleyball men's gold medal match between Sweden and Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Hanukkah — also spelled Chanukah or other transliterations from Hebrew — is Judaism’s “festival of lights.” On eight consecutive nightfalls, Jews gather with family and friends to light one additional candle in the menorah — a multibranched candelabra.

In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC, after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated it from occupying foreign forces.

With the tiny supply of ritually pure oil that they found in the temple, they lit the menorah — and it stayed lit for eight days. The ritual of lighting a nightly candle, as well as the emphasis on cooking foods in oil such as potato pancakes called latkes, memorialize this miraculously long-lasting oil.

The dates of the holiday are based on Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually coincides with November-December in the Gregorian calendar.

This year, Hanukkah will be celebrated from Dec. 25, 2024, through Jan. 2, 2025.

Jews across the religious observance spectrum — from Reform to Conservative to Orthodox — focus on the same theme of bringing light into the darkness and emphasizing that even a small, against-the-odds effort can have a transforming effect.

For this reason, even though the Talmud reflects a dispute over the order of lighting, most start with one candle and increase the lighting by one more candle each night while reciting or chanting special blessings.

The candles are added from right to left, but lit from left to right on the menorah, thus always starting with the newest light. The special menorah used for Hanukkah has eight branches, with a ninth place for the candle called shamash from which all others are lit.

The tradition calls for candles with a real flame, though some also use electric ones in public displays, such as in hospitals, for safety reasons.

A menorah is lit in each household and traditionally is placed where it can be seen from the outside, such as a doorway or windowsill, to symbolize the spreading of God’s light to all nations.

The lighting of menorahs in city streets and parks has become more prominent in recent years in countries around the world, including in front of public landmarks.

In addition to menorah lightings, giving to charity and social works are also part of the celebration for many, reflecting the belief that the Jewish people are called by God to help make the world better for all.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Rabbi Peter Tarlow lights a candle on a menorah during a Chicanukah event at Holocaust Museum Houston on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)