By: Jon Ackerman, NBC Olympics
To reach the highest levels of international volleyball, players ply their trade during the winter in places like Europe or Brazil, which have quality professional leagues. Libero Rich Lambourne of the U.S. has played in a half dozen foreign countries, but looks forward to his summers with the national team more than anything. He spoke with us about living abroad, winning Olympic gold in 2008, and his golf aspirations.
You didn't play professionally overseas this past season, but have played in Russia, Poland, Greece, Belgium, Austria and The Netherlands. Of those, which is your favorite?
I liked Poland a lot, just because they're super, kind of volley crazy. So you get good crowds, the level of that league is pretty good. Russia was obviously pretty strong as well. I mean, Russia was terrible, but that was more a function of the city I lived in, which was just kind of backwards and awful. It's kind of hit and miss as to which cities decide to modernize a little bit. And the place I was in was not one of those.
Where were you?
I was in a city called Belgorod, which doesn't mean anything to anybody that hasn't been there. It's like a two-hour flight south of Moscow, next to the Ukranian border.
What do you like most about living in a foreign country?
If I'm doing a comparative analysis, I don't like anything about it over being at home. But I like the opportunity to play volleyball. It's interesting to meet different people and you get a taste a little bit of some different cultures and different places in the world. But kind of an interesting answer would be, the thing I like most is how much it makes me appreciate home.
What did winning the 2008 Olympic gold medal mean to you?
It's kind of hard to quantify. The best thing I can really come up with is that it's something that anybody can relate to as far as the magnitude of that accomplishment. What I mean by that is, a few weeks before the Olympics we won the World League, which in some ways may be even a more difficult competition. But if I go, "Hey, we won the World League," that means nothing to anybody who doesn't know the ins and outs of international volleyball. But if you say, "I'm an Olympic gold medalist," everybody in the world pretty much knows that's kind of a big deal.
Has being the defending Olympic champions added pressure to the team?
I don't think so. I think the pressure comes internally, from the guys that were a part of that team. In my personal opinion, the great thing about winning a medal at the Olympics is that's something that you can't like mess up the rest of your career and then it gets retroactively taken away from you. You can only hopefully add on to it. So I don't think it's like, "Hey, we won it once, we need to do it again, otherwise that other one's diminished."
You're the team's libero, and in college you were an outside hitter. Do you wish you could take more swings?
With the national team it's not so much of a big deal because I don't walk into the gym and think constantly that I would be better than some of the guys that we have playing that position, because that's not the case. I'm incredibly grateful, in fact, that there's a libero position because otherwise I wouldn't have the chops as an outside hitter to be on the U.S. team and to do the things we've done. But, going overseas I've played with any number of guys that I'd stake my life that I would be a better outside hitter than them.
Do you ever play outside for your pro teams?
I've strictly been a libero. And that was to try and be as good at that job as I could be because really my focus was always the national team first, and then playing overseas was just a way to keep your game tight, hone your craft, but in an effort to be as good as possible for the summer national team competition season.
Are there any other sports in the Olympics that, if you had a shot, you would like to play?
Not especially. Until 2016 and they get golf in there. I love golf. I wish I would have grown up playing golf, it would be fantastic. What a great sport, and that's the best sport on earth as far as longevity goes.
When you're not playing volleyball what types of things do you like to do?
Right now, golf has been the go-to off-time activity. One of my teammates, Riley Salmon, and I, we try and get out once or twice a week. Southern California's great because the weather's cooperative most of the time. We're training five days a week and lifting three days, so Tuesday and Thursday are our off days from lifting. In the afternoons we try and get out and swing the clubs and relax and enjoy ourselves.
Source: nbcolympics.com