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Australia's Dream Machine wins gold in Olympic women's beach volleyball
= = SYDNEY, Sept 25 (AFP) - Australia's Dream Machine worked like a charm Monday as Australia's Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook rode on the goodwill of a partisan Bondi Beach crowd to a gold medal in the women's beach volleyball. The Australian No. 1 seeds, who dubbed themselves "The Dream Machine" after taking bronze in Atlanta in 1996 and setting their sights on gold in Sydney, beat Brazilian No. 2 seeds Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede in straight sets in the final to win the gold. But their win in a final billed as the Battle of the Beaches - Bondi v. Copacabana - didn't come without a scare for the Australians, who had won just three of their 17 matchups against the Brazilians before Monday's final. Pottharst and Cook had to come back from deficits in both sets to win 12-11 12-10. Another Brazilian pair, Sandra Pires and Adriana Samuel, took bronze by beating Japanese duo Mika Saiki and Yukiko Takahashi in the third-place match. Pires, who carried Brazil's flag at the Opening Ceremony, had won the inaugural Olympic women's tournament in Atlanta four years ago when she was paired with Jackie Silva. Pottharst, who moved her training ahead of the Olympics across Sydney Harbour from Manly to Bondi, said the 10,000-strong crowd inside the beach's stadium had helped the Australians scramble home for the win over the Brazilians, who train on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach. For good measure they had seen off Pires and Samuel in the semis - they too are products of Rio and learned the trade on the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. "The crowd definitely helped us come from behind," she said. "The crowd definitely gave us the edge." The Australians jumped out to an early lead in the first set lifted by the rowdy crowd and Pottharst's powerful serve, but the Brazilians fought back to get two set points before the Australians drew level at 11-11. The first set went the Australians' way after Cook struck a bit of luck on set point, hitting a serve into the net and watching the ball drop on the Brazilian side to win the set 12-11. Pottharst and Cook were forced to come back again in the second set after the Brazilians attacked their way to a 10-8 lead before Pottharst served an ace to pull back to within one and Cook thundered a cross-court spike into the sand in front of Bede to draw level at 10-10. The Australians then worked their way to match point, winning the second set - and a gold medal - after a poke by Behar went wide. The Brazilians sought to discount the crowd as a factor, saying they were used to playing before thousands of people and pointing to the sizeable Brazilian contingent in the stands. Shelda Bede, who broke down in tears after the game and was emotional through a post-game news conference, said the Australians had been able to come back from behind twice as a result of their power and Pottharst's serve, which is considered one of the best in the world. "What made the biggest difference in this game was the serving," she said. "The Australians served so much better than us." The victory by 25-year-old Cook and 35-year-old Pottharst came after the pair, who split as partners briefly after Atlanta, put a sometimes bizarre single-minded approach to their preparations. Besides dubbing themselves the Dream Machine, Cook hired a "success coach" as part of her training who had both her and Pottharst walk across hot coals and glass and urged her to live under a "golden concept". As part of that she surrounded herself with golden objects - including gold toothpaste - in the leadup to her Olympic campaign and even set up a special place for her gold medal in a cabinet in her home. "It got to the point where people looked at me like I was goofy," Cook said. "(But) you can't ever stop thinking about being the best. "We've been playing through this golden concept to have a tidal wave land on Bondi Beach on September 25th," Cook said. "We were coming for one color and one color only.
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