Font ResizePosted: 12:47 PM- Jake Gibb was always a little hesitant to discuss his pursuit of a place in the Beijing Olympics. He didn't want to jinx it.
But now, that concern is history.
The beach volleyball player from Bountiful secured his place on the U.S. Olympic Team over the weekend, despite being eliminated in the first round of an FIVB World Tour event in Moscow. The rankings points that Gibb and teammate Sean Rosenthal earned for their performance, however brief, gave them an insurmountable lead to become the second of two U.S. teams that will take the sand in China.
"We're so excited for him," his sister-in-law, Joy Gibb, said in an e-mail.
Top-ranked Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers will join Gibb and Rosenthal in Beijing, having won 21 straight World Tour matches - just two shy of the record. One Olympic qualifying event remains next week in France, but it won't matter for Gibb and Rosenthal.
The youngest of 11 children, the 32-year-old Gibb did not begin playing volleyball until failing to make the varsity basketball team at Bountiful High School. Having grown to 6-foot-7 while serving an LDS Church mission in Costa Rica, the die-hard Jazz and Utes fan returned to Utah and began taking his new sport seriously.
Ultimately, he and his wife Jane moved to California with $1,600 to pursue his dream of
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"In a million years, I would have never thought I could have got to that level," Gibb said in a recent interview.
