These Guys Still Have Olympic Karma

The phone messages were numerous and never-ending, perhaps more apropos for the workplace of a wheeling-and-dealing super agent or a rising-in-the-polls politician.

Instead, they were for Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, beach volleyball players and, thanks to last Sunday, Olympic athletes in the very near future.

Blanton and Fonoimoana, who clinched the second and final U.S. berth a week ago, returned from the final Olympic qualifying tournament in Belgium to find a slew of congratulatory dispatches from friends and family, underscoring their achievement after the lengthy and often confusing qualifying process.

Their recent karma continued Saturday at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals U.S. Open at Seal Beach.

Blanton and Fonoimoana overcame a sluggish start to defeat Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh, 15-11, in the third round, reeling off the final six points of the match.

They will face Lee LeGrande and Franco Neto in a semifinal of the winner’s bracket today.

Blanton, a graduate of Laguna Beach High, had five aces against Ceman and Whitmarsh. He still seemed slightly overwhelmed by the concept of representing the U.S. in the Olympics, which begin Sept. 17 for beach volleyball.

“It’s amazing to be part of the United States team and playing in a competition that is such an honor,” said Blanton, who lives in Santa Monica. “We pulled it off at the last second. There was no tomorrow at [the Belgium] tournament.”

Blanton and Fonoimoana clashed with the AVP in recent months, but seemed at ease Saturday.

At the heart of the problem was a scheduling conflict--neither the AVP nor Blanton and Fonoimoana could reach an accord on which AVP tournaments the duo could miss in order to compete in international tournaments that offered Olympic qualifying points.

The past is the past, Fonoimoana said. At least for now.

“Right now, I’m rolling with the punches,” said Fonoimoana, who lives in Hermosa Beach. “We made our goal and that was to make the Olympics. The pressure of two years of qualifying is gone. Everything’s a lot more fun.”

Blanton and Fonoimoana’s good fortune could be considered the opposite of what Adam Johnson and Karch Kiraly have experienced lately.

San Clemente resident Kiraly, the only three-time gold medalist in volleyball history, dislocated his shoulder at the Belgium Open, costing him and Johnson a shot at Sydney.

Johnson, also from San Clemente, missed out on the Olympics in similar fashion in 1996--his partner at the time, Randy Stoklos, sprained his ankle during the U.S. trials.

“It’s helplessness,” said Johnson, 35. “It’s an awful feeling. There’s nothing you can do.”

Johnson, playing with Brian Lewis at Seal Beach, lost to LeGrande and Neto, 16-14, in a third-round match.

The score was tied at 14-14, but Johnson and Lewis failed to score again.

Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego, the top-ranked team in the world, play Dax Holdren and Todd Rodgers in the other winner’s bracket semifinal.