Talita Antunes da Rocha

Talita Antunes da Rocha
at the FIVB World Tour 2011
portrait
birthday	August 29, 1982
place of birth	Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
size	1.81 m
partner	2001–2002 Jackie Silva 2002–2004 Maria Clara Salgado Rufino 2005–2008 Renata Ribeiro 2008–2012 Maria Antonelli 2013–2014, 2019 Taiana Lima 2014–2017 Larissa França
successes
2002 - Winner South American Championship 2002 - 3rd place World Championship U21 2008 - Olympic fourth in 2009 - World Cup third in 2011 - World Cup fifth in 2012 - Olympic ninth in 2013 - World Tour Champion 2016 - Olympic fourth in 2017 - World Cup third in 2017 - World Tour champion
(As of December 31, 2018)

Talita Antunes da Rocha (born August 29, 1982 in Aquidauana ) is a Brazilian beach volleyball player .

Career

Talita started playing volleyball indoors at the age of 14 . As a 19-year-old she switched to beach volleyball and was discovered by Jackie Silva , with whom she formed her first duo in 2001. Talita and Jackie Silva first played national tournaments before winning the South American championship in 2002. With Maria Clara Salgado Rufino , Talita won the bronze medal at the U21 World Cup in Catania . She also had her first appearance on the FIVB World Tour in 2002 with Renata Ribeiro , when she came ninth at the Vitória Open. In 2004 she played the Fortaleza Open with Tatiana Minello and a Challenger tournament with Maria Clara.

Since 2005 Talita has formed a permanent duo with Renata. In their first year together on the World Tour, they started with two ninth places in Shanghai and Osaka . After that, they almost always reached the top ten. At the open tournament in Saint Petersburg they were in the final for the first time, which they lost against Juliana / Larissa . The same result came in Montreal . At the Athens Open Talita / Renata took revenge and celebrated their first tournament victory. The next final victory followed in Bali , this time against Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar . In Salvador da Bahia and Cape Town , Talita / Renata came fourth each. At the end of the season, Talita was named “Top Rookie” by the FIVB . At the first tournaments of the World Tour 2006 Talita / Renata came fifth several times and finished fourth in Saint Petersburg. They only missed the top ten at the Warsaw Open. Immediately after the tournament in Poland they reached their next final in Porto Santo , which they lost after a 36:38 in the first set against Juliana / Larissa. At the end of the year in Acapulco they were again in the final and lost to the US duo Walsh / May-Treanor .

Talita in the 2008 Olympic semifinals against Walsh / May-Treanor

At the beginning of the 2007 season, after a third place in Shanghai, they won the tournament in Sentosa against the Chinese women Tian Jia and Wang Jie . Then there were places five, four and three as well as two weaker Grand Slams in Paris and Stavanger . At the Marseille Open Talita / Renata prevailed against Xue Chen and Zhang Xi in the final . Then they came to the last sixteen as group winners at the World Cup in Gstaad , which they lost to the German duo Pohl / Rau . In the further course of the World Tour there were four fifth places in a row and finally a seventh place in Phuket . In the first two tournaments in 2008 there was a final against Juliana / Larissa; in Adelaide the competitors prevailed, in Shanghai Talita / Larissa won. They also achieved top ten results at all other tournaments on the 2008 World Tour. They qualified for the Beijing Olympics . There they won their games in the preliminary round as well as in the second round and quarter-finals. In the semifinals they then had to admit defeat to the old and new Olympic champions Walsh / May-Treanor and in the game for third place against Xue Chen and Zhang Xi they missed a medal. With seventh place at the Guarujá Open, they then ended their career together.

In 2009 Talita formed a new duo with Maria Antonelli . After a 13th place in Brasília, Talita / Antonelli came into the final in three consecutive tournaments. In Shanghai they defeated the Chinese Wang Jie and Zuo Man and in Seoul the US duo Kessy / Ross , while in Osaka they defeated Juliana / Larissa. At the World Cup in Stavanger they reached the semi-finals unbeaten. Then there were two Brazilian duels for Talita / Antonelli, who lost in the tiebreak to Juliana / Larissa, but then won the bronze medal game against Ana Paula and Shelda Bede . Immediately after the World Cup, Talita / Antonelli took revenge against Juliana / Larissa in the Gstaad final. After a few tournaments with results between third and fifth place, they won their next final in Kristiansand , this time against the Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger . After finishing third in Åland , they lost the last two finals in 2009 against their Brazilian rivals. In 2010 Brasília was their first FIVB tournament of the year again, this time with a double-digit placement. This was followed by two third and fourth places before they conceded the next defeat against Juliana / Larissa in the final of the Grand Slam in Stavanger. At the tournament after that in Marseille they prevailed in the final against the Schwaiger sisters. Then they reached third place in Stare Jabłonki and Åland. The season ended for her with a tournament victory in The Hague against Zhang Xi and Xue Chen .

Talita with Maria Antonelli at the Grand Slam 2011 in Moscow

They opened the 2011 World Tour with a fifth place in Brasília and a third place in Sanya . They also finished fifth in Shanhai, Mysłowice and Beijing . At the World Cup in Rome they reached the quarterfinals as group winners and with two tiebreak wins, which they lost - also after three sets - against Zhang Xi and Xue Chen. They finished the following three Grand Slams in ninth, fourth and fifth. They won the Québec Open in the final against the Salgado sisters Maria Clara and Carolina . Then they were four times in a row in the game for third place, which they could win in Stare Jabłonki and The Hague. At the beginning of the World Tour 2012 they reached the finals three times. They had to admit defeat to Zhang Xi and Xue Chen in Brasília and Shanghai, while in Sanya they defeated Juliana / Larissa, who had become world champions last year. In the further course of the tour gave a fourth place in Moscow and a third place in Klagenfurt; they also came in ninth three times. Fifth in the Olympic rankings, Talita / Antonelli qualified for the Olympic Games in London . There they won their preliminary group, but had to admit defeat to the Czechs Sluková / Kolocová in the second round . After fifth place in Stare Jabłonki, they parted ways, as did Juliana / Larissa.

Talita formed a new duo with Taiana Lima in 2013 . After finishing ninth in Fuzhou , Talita / Lima won the Grand Slam in Shanghai against the Schwaiger sisters. Further tournament victories on the 2013 World Tour followed in The Hague against the Salgado sisters and in Rome against Kessy / Ross. At the World Cup in Stare Jabłonki, however, they were eliminated as second in the group in the first knockout round against the Germans Ludwig / Walkenhorst . After the World Cup, they finished third in Gstaad, before winning the Grand Slams in Long Beach against the Salgado sisters and in Berlin against the German duo Holtwick / Semmler . Then they finished ninth twice and ended the season with a losing final against Walsh / Ross. They received awards from the FIVB as World Tour Champion and “Team of the Year”. At the beginning of the 2014 season they came in fifth twice and fourth once. In Moscow they lost the final against Walsh / Ross. The Grand Slam in Berlin, where they finished fifth, was their last tournament together.

Talita got together with Larissa, who had decided to make a comeback on the World Tour. After two ninth places in The Hague and Long Beach , Larissa / Talita celebrated their first joint victory at an FIVB tournament at the Grand Slam in Klagenfurt. They also won the Grand Slams in Stare Jabłonki and São Paulo and the Paraná Open. They also won various tournaments on the national tour. On the 2015 World Tour, Larissa / Talita won the Grand Slam in Moscow and the Poreč Major. They finished ninth in Saint Petersburg. At the World Cup in the Netherlands , they met Juliana and Antonelli in the round of 16 and were eliminated with a 1: 2 defeat. After the World Cup, apart from the Gstaad Grand Slam, they won all other tournaments in which they compete, including the World Tour Final in Fort Lauderdale . This made them FIVB “Team of the Year”. The World Tour 2015/16 began Larissa / Talita with three tournaments in her home country. They finished ninth in Maceió and Rio de Janeiro before winning the Vitória Open final against Kerri Walsh and April Ross . The Americans get their revenge in Moscow. At the Hamburg Major there was the duel in the game for third place, which the Brazilians won. At the Grand Slam in Olsztyn, Larissa / Talita lost to the Germans Ludwig / Walkenhorst in the final . After finishing ninth in Poreč, they defeated Walsh / Ross again at Gstaad Major. For the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro , they were set as the host's team. In the preliminary round and in the round of 16 against the German Borger / Büthe they stayed without losing a set before they had to fend off an opposing match point in the quarter-finals against the Swiss Heidrich / Zumkehr . They lost the semifinals against Ludwig / Walkenhorst and the game for third place against Walsh / Ross. On the World Tour 2017 , Larissa / Talita had without exception top 5 placements and became World Tour Champion. At the World Championships in Vienna they won the bronze medal.

After a one-year hiatus, Talita Antunes will be playing alongside Taiana Lima again in 2019.

Web links

Commons : Talita Antunes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Talita Antunes da Rocha in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Profile at the world association FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
• Portrait at Time Petrobras (Portuguese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
2. ↑ Brazilian Juliana / Larissa and Talita / Antonelli to bid farewell this weekend. FIVB, accessed on August 15, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Larissa is back. beach-volleyball.de, June 19, 2014, accessed on August 15, 2016 .