Metzger lands
in Athens after
being dropped
The Punahou grad earned
his spot just last month
This is the 10th in a series on people with local ties taking part in the Olympic Games in Greece. Tomorrow's story will be on Clay Stanley.
It wasn't exactly a dream scenario.
A year before the Athens Olympics, beach volleyball player Stein Metzger found out from his girlfriend, who read it in a newspaper, that he had been dumped.
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Metzger regrouped with Dax Holdren, Fonoimoana's former partner, and they clawed into contention with a second-place finish at the FIVB world championships (an event worth triple points) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A fifth-place showing at an FIVB event in Carson, Calif., put them back in the Olympic race. Metzger and Holdren clinched their Olympic berth on July 3 in Norway after a seventh-place finish made it impossible for former UH player Sean Scott and Todd Rogers to catch them.
"That goes to show what great physical and mental athletes they are," coach Jeff Alzina said. "To not have trained with each other for a long period of time and be able to connect right away and beat almost every team in the world.
"Their chemistry clicked right off the bat. They both have very adaptive and social personalities and extremely high volleyball IQ."
And plenty of confidence.
It's one of the few areas of Metzger's game that might not be proportionate to his abilities.
"That's part of his success," said his father, Bill. "He's always had a high opinion of his abilities. Maybe too high."
You can't blame him. Metzger has worked magic before.
In 1996, he willed UCLA to the national championship with a team of inexperienced underclassmen. The Bruins defeated Hawaii in a five-game marathon to cap Metzger's hugely accomplished career. The 6-foot-3 setter won three national titles at UCLA (1993, 1995-96) and was a two-time All-American.
But the work involved in those national titles pales in comparison to the arduous task of getting to the Olympics. It's been an emotional and physical battle.
"Stein is a pretty amazing person," said Emily Aragon, Metzger's girlfriend of four years. "After the breakup, it wasn't his intention to make the Olympics. He wasn't focused on that. It was regrouping and doing the best with what he had. I never counted him out (even though) they were basically left for dead."
"To get where we are and accomplish this, this is my greatest accomplishment so far," said Metzger, who remembered hugging Holdren in the players' tent after Scott and Rogers lost. "Hopefully I can go a bit further and get into the medal rounds and come home with a medal around my neck."
It won't be easy.
To get out of pool play, Metzger and Holdren will have to play with some of the tenacity they demonstrated in getting to the Olympics. Brazilians Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego, the world No. 1 and the top-seeded team of the entire tournament, are in their pool, along with two other top seeds.
"We got the worst draw possible out of all three," Metzger said. "It's going to be a really tough pool. If we make it out of this pool, we're going to be ready to go to war. Anybody who makes it out of our pool is going to be playing well."
Metzger and Holdren arrived in Athens last Wednesday to acclimate themselves to the heat and their surroundings. They toured parts of Athens, checking out the Acropolis and the Parthenon and marveling at what was built centuries before they walked the earth.
They practiced at the venue for beach volleyball and lifted weights with the FBI hostage and rescue team. They move onto the Queen Mary cruise ship that will house several Olympic athletes on Thursday.
"I like sailing. I've never been on a cruise ship and that's supposed to be the best," Metzger said. "I'm looking forward to it. I'm really enjoying my partnership with Dax. I'm just trying to soak up everything here and not worry about the past and any negativity I had on the way here."
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