Damien's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Beach Volleyball
Event: Men's Beach Volleyball
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1987
State Born: VIC
About Damien
Victorian native talent Damien Schumann began playing volleyball in high school, making the transition to beach volleyball in the ninth grade.
Damien made his Commonwealth Games debut on the Gold Coast in 2018, alongside Christopher McHugh with whom he had been competing with since early 2017. The partnership had previously produced a title at their first tournament together, as well as four more podiums in the year prior to the Commonwealth Games.
Schumann and McHugh eased through to the final, having not dropped a set in their quarterfinal and semifinal matches against Sierra Leone and England. Their convincing performances saw them through to the gold medal match where they faced Canada's Pedlow and Schachter in a 64 minute thriller. They clinched the first set, dropped the second but fought back to win the final set 18-16. With a final score of 2:1, Australia were crowned victorious in front of a home crowd on the 9th night of the Commonwealth Games.
Schumann began playing for Australia alongside Owen Boland, with whom he was teammates for three years. He went on to compete with Joshua Court from 2013 until the end of the 2016 season. He began competing with McHugh in 2017, and then with Cole Durant from mid-2018. The Schumann/McHugh partnership that produced a Commonwealth gold medal resumed in preparation for Tokyo 2020, winning a title together in Thailand, and then a silver in New Zealand.
Damien has previously been voted the Best Defender in Australia, Best Male International Player in 2017 and was a part of the Number One Ranked Team in Asia/Oceania that year.
Schumann and McHugh achieved a milestone before stepping on the sand at Tokyo 2020, becoming Australia’s first male beach volleyballers to compete at an Olympics since Beijing 2008 after qualifying through the continental cup.
They faced a tough draw which included the Danish World Champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum and top-5 seeded Russian Olympic Committee.
With a thrilling first matchup, the Australians pushed the Danes to the brink, going down in a knife’s edge battle 21-18 18-21 15-13. The Danish pair of Mol and Sorum finished Tokyo as gold medallists, with this first matchup showing the world the Aussie duo can compete with the best of the best.
While unable to capture the magic play of their first round encounter, the Aussie men fought bravely in pool match defeats to Russia (21-14 21-16) and Spain (21-16 21-16).
After an incredibly tough qualifying and preparation schedule, which included McHugh and Schumann spending two weeks in quarantine directly before leaving for Tokyo after their qualification event in Thailand, they represented Australia with pride and showed Australia belongs in the Olympic competition.
“We're so proud to be the first Australian men's team back at the Olympics in beach volleyball since 2008,” Schumann said.
“In the last few cycles we've come close as a country to making that, for us to finally win that Continental Cup and get back into the Olympics is really, really special. It’s a massive honour to be here."
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