About 18 months ago, Kelly Chen and Sarah Hughes reunited as beach volleyball partners and had a heart-to-heart for 90 minutes at a Starbucks in Long Beach, California.
Since then, they have quickly become the top team in the United States and even world champions.
There are still two months left in Olympic qualifying, but based on his performance since the start of 2023, he has a mathematically good chance of qualifying for the Paris Games later this week.
Rewind to the second half of the 2022 season. Both Chen and Hughes thought about it. They are looking to reach out to each other to rebuild the partnership that led to 103 consecutive wins at USC.
But the dominance of universities is a thing of the past. Chen and Hughes began their professional careers together in 2017, but separated in 2018 to pursue the Tokyo Olympics with different partners.
“There were a lot of unknowns, I was young and inexperienced, I was probably listening to outside forces and I didn't really know how to deal with things,” Hughes said in 2022. talked about.
Hughes missed qualifying for Tokyo due to an injury to his new teammate Summer Ross. Chen competed in the Olympics, but lost in the round of 16 to Sara Sponsil. Chen and Sponsil parted ways after the 2021 season.
Since the start of the Paris Olympic qualifiers in early 2023, top beach volleyball players have had to strengthen their long-term partnership plans by the end of 2022.
Chen and Hughes had each other in mind. One morning, Chen sent her first text message. Would you like to meet for coffee?
Hughes readily agreed (though neither of us drank coffee).
Mr. Chen lives in Huntington Beach. Mr. Hughes is in Hermosa Beach. So they found a halfway point, a Starbucks in Long Beach.
“We hadn't played together in five years,” Hughes said. “We have met. We have talked to each other and we have had to accept a lot, apologize to each other and confirm what our goals are. So a lot happened.
Manganiello highlights Chen and Hughes
Actor Joe Manganiello tells the story of beach volleyball players and Olympic medal hopefuls Kelly Chen and Sarah Hughes.
“I knew exactly what Kelly was thinking because I was going to contact her in a week, but I was thinking the exact same thing. Does she want to hang out with me? Be embarrassed. What? I'm nervous. I'm excited too, but most of the time I don't know what she's going to say.”
Chen said he would like to play with Hughes again. Hughes took time to think about it out of respect for his then-partner. Later that day, she picked up the phone and told Chen, “Let's win gold in Paris.”
Chen and Hughes won their first four tournaments together in late 2022 and early 2023.
And last October, they became the first U.S. team to win the biennial world championship since 2009.
In Paris, at a stadium at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, it will be able to extend America's success in the sport since its first appearance at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Half of all Olympic beach volleyball gold medals to date have been won by U.S. pairs.
“Now that we're back together, we're having fun and giggling and doing goofy things like we did in college,” Chen said. “But now we have this high level of intensity and passion that we might not have had before. It was good before and we're all grown up and mature and now we're having difficult conversations. We can look each other in the eye and say, “Hey, I've got your back.” Trust that the other person will be on your side. So it's really special. ”
