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The Rush: April Ross on winning Olympic gold, celebrity fans and beach “superhero”

Third time’s the charm for April Ross, who recently won Olympic gold in Tokyo. The Beach Volleyball champ joins The Rush to dish on the real beach volleyball “superhero” of the Olympics, her top moments in Tokyo, being fawned over by celebrity superfans and how instrumental her late mother Margie was to her success on the court.

You can learn more about April’s quest to help others through her partnership with Team Lilly here.

Video Transcript

- It was close to the hottest sand I've ever played in, and so there's this one guy who was in charge of watering down the court with this fire hose. And he was like a superhero, and he'd get out there and he braced himself, and he'd spray it so high in the air. And you just could hear like this theme music playing behind him, and he'd take his job so seriously. It was great.

- That's beach volleyball champ April Ross, sporting some shiny hardware around her neck. At 39 years old, she just won her first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo with partner Alex Klineman. In three Olympic appearances, April's won three medals, and she stopped by "The Rush" to talk about it. Here is Three Things with April Ross.

- Top moments-- I think as soon as the ball drops in the final match, that was number one. And then, running over to our team, that was-- we had maybe 15 people in the stands and they had been chanting against the Australian team.

The Aussies were doing their chant, and then our USA crew, in response, was doing the USA chant, and that meant so much to us. And it felt like we were playing in front of a bunch of people. But as soon as the ball dropped, we ran over to them and had this great moment hugging them in the stands, so that was amazing.

This is the first time I've stayed in the village during competition. And just to come back after our matches and be riding in the elevators with other Team USA athletes, and being able to talk to them about how they did, and they get all stoked on how we're doing, that was really, really fun.

I mean, Mr. T was awesome. To have him offer his blessing to the second A-Team because, obviously, he was the original. It meant so much that he jumped on board, and I just love him. But I'd say the most surprising was probably Amy Schumer was fan number one, and she was posting on her Instagram feed about us.

- That's it. They won. Congratulations.

- And then she did this parody of me and Alex hugging with her husband, and it was hilarious, and that was fun to follow. She was such a big part of helping me get here. She was my emotional backbone. She was so brave and courageous growing up, and I'm so grateful for her and everything she did for me. It really felt like I was bringing her along on this journey.

Everybody from my past who knew her was sending me messages at the Olympics-- I saw your commercial. It was so meaningful for me to be able to share memories of my mom and share what she went through, and hopefully, inspire people through our story.

And so to be partnered with Eli Lilly and be able to spread this messaging that health is most important above all and they want to help people reach their potential however they can, I just think was so in line with the Olympic spirit. I felt like I was also able to give back while pursuing my own dreams. It is just like a perfect scenario. I couldn't write anything better.