It would be easy enough to say Kerri Walsh Jennings finally had age catch up to her.
It would be easy to say her partner was not up to the job.
It would be wrong, though. Both of them.
Walsh Jennings did not lose for the first time in beach volleyball at the Olympic Games because she is 38, or because April Ross replaced her three-time gold-medal partner, Misty May-Treanor, upon May-Treanor’s retirement following the 2012 games.
If Ross were the problem, the pair wouldn’t have gone through the 2014 season without losing. If Walsh Jennings were too old, the Americans would not have entered the Olympics as the No.