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Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics
Governing body	FIVB
Events	2 (men: 1; women: 1)
Games
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Medalists

Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games as a demonstration event, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996.

Brazil has won a gold or a silver medal (3 golds) at every Olympic beach volleyball tournament, in either the men's or women's tournament competition, since its introduction in 1996. The United States has also won at least a bronze medal (6 golds) in every men's or women's tournament in the same period.

Winning the Olympics is considered to be the highest honor in international beach volleyball, followed by the World Championships, and the World Tour of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) for men and women.

History

Origins

Beach volleyball was a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, at which Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos won the men's tournament, and Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno won the women's.

Beach volleyball was introduced as an official Olympic sport in 1996. A total of 24 teams take part in each beach volleyball Olympic tournament. Teams qualify on the basis of their performance in FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) events over the course of about 18 months before the Olympic Games. There is a limit of two teams per country, and one spot apiece is reserved for the host country and a randomly chosen wild-card country. In the event that any Olympic region is not represented, the highest ranked team from that continent qualifies for the tournament.

Men's beach volleyball

Dalhausser and Rogers celebrate their gold medal win in 2008 with George W. Bush

The men's tournament has had a constant number of teams, with 24 couples in each edition.

In the first tournament, played in the 1996 Olympics, the matches were played at "Atlanta Beach" in Jonesboro, Georgia. The winners of the semifinals played for the gold and silver medals. The losers of the semifinal played for third and fourth places. The final was contested between the Americans Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes versus Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh. Kiraly is so far the only person with Olympic medals in both indoor and beach volleyball since he had won the gold medal indoors in the tournament of 1984 as well as 1988 in Seoul, South Korea.

The beach volleyball tournament 0f 2000 was played in Bondi Beach, a suburb of Sydney. The winners were again an American team, Blanton/Fonoimoana, defeating Brazilians Zé Marco/Ricardo (the former had competed in Atlanta) in the finals.

In the 2004 Summer Olympics the tournament was held in the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex, in Athens, Greece. The Brazilians Emanuel/Ricardo (the former being a veteran of two Olympics, and the latter a silver medalist in 2000) won the gold medal, defeating Bosma and Herrera of Spain.

The beach volleyball tournament of 2008 was carried out at the Beach Volleyball Ground, located in the Chaoyang Park in Beijing. In an upset, reigning champions Emanuel and Ricardo were defeated by their compatriots Márcio Araújo (who competed in Athens) and Fábio Luiz in the semifinal, having to settle for the bronze (where they beat two Brazilians competing for Georgia). The Brazilian victors were then defeated by Americans Rogers and Dalhausser in the final.

The 2012 tournament was played at the Horse Guards Parade in London. Emanuel Rego, now paired with Alison Cerutti, got his third straight medal, completing the three podium colors, by reaching the finals, where he lost to Germans Brink and Reckermann. Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Jānis Šmēdiņš from Latvia got the bronze.

After 16 years, the 2016 tournament again was held in an actual beach, Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. Alison Cerutti, now partnered with Bruno Schmidt, returned to the finals, and won the gold beating Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai of Italy in the finals. The Dutch Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen completed the podium.

Women's beach volleyball

Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst at the 2000 tournament.

Brasil winner silver medalist Olympics 2016

In Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996, there were eighteen teams entered, and the championship match was played between two Brazilian teams: Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires versus Mônica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel. The Australians Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst edged out the Americans for the bronze medal.

At the Sydney Olympics of 2000, the number of teams was increased to 24. One of the two Australian teams, Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst, won the gold medal over the Brazilians Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede, four years after winning the bronze medal in Atlanta. Another Brazilian team, featuring 1996 champion Sandra Pires and runner-up Adriana Samuel, edged out the Japanese for the bronze medal.

Behar and Bede of Brazil avenged the 2000 defeat by beating Natalie Cook (now partnered with Nicole Sanderson) in the 2004 semifinal to return to the final match, but they were defeated by Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States. Both May-Treanor and Walsh were veterans of the Sydney Olympics, but Walsh had been part of the American indoor team. Another American team, Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs (the former in her third tournament, having been fourth in Atlanta), defeated the Australian team for the bronze medal.

In 2008 in China, May-Treanor and Walsh (now going by her married name of Walsh Jennings) were victorious again by defeating the Chinese team of Tian Jia and Wang Jie in the finals. Another Chinese team won the bronze medal, edging out Brazil in fourth place, and thus sending the Brazilian women home without a medal for the only time in the tournament history so far.

In 2012 in England May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings won for the third consecutive Olympiad by defeating the other American team of April Ross and Jennifer Kessy in the championship game. Thus the United States finished with the gold and silver medals, with Brazil winning the bronze medal, edging out China in fourth place.

The 2016 tournament in Brazil had the country return to the beach volleyball final after 12 years, with Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas winning the semifinal over defending champion Walsh Jennings and London silver medallist April Ross. However, they lost the gold medal to the Germans Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, who had also defeated the Brazilians Talita Antunes (4th in 2008) and Larissa França (bronze in 2012) in the semifinals. Talita and Larissa also lost the bronze medal to the United States, making Walsh Jennings the only player to win four beach volleyball Olympic medals. The defeat also broke a streak where every tournament had one country winning medals with both their teams: Brazil in 1996 (gold and silver) and 2000 (silver and bronze), United States in 2004 (gold and bronze) and 2012 (gold and silver), and China in 2008 (silver and bronze). There were also four teams tied for fifth place: Australia, Canada, Russia, and Switzerland, and hence seven countries were represented in the top eight teams.

While nine countries won medals in the male tournament, only five have done so with women. The dominating nations are Brazil and the US. Americans have the most gold medals, three earned by Walsh-May. The only country outside the five medallists (Brazil, USA, Australia, China and Germany) to reach the semifinals was Japan in 2000.

Competition formula

Olympics 2016 tournament.

NBC Reporter Volleyball Olympics

1996

A double-elimination tournament was played for both men and women until a total of four teams qualified for the semifinals: the two finalist teams of the winners bracket and the two finalist teams of the elimination bracket. The men's field had 24 teams, and the women's field had 16.

Competitors were selected through a detailed Olympic qualification process which saw the participation of a total of 587 men's and women's athletes from 46 countries. Each country could qualify up to two teams - host country United States had two spots already guaranteed, with the doubles selected through Olympic Beach Trials held in Baltimore, Maryland.

2000

Following an expansion on the women's tournament, both competitions had 24 teams. The format became single elimination, preceded by a preliminary round to define the round of 16 teams - the twelve winners of the preliminary games automatically qualified, while the twelve defeated teams played two elimination rounds to get the remaining four spots.

The teams qualify by accumulating points in FIVB Olympic Qualification Tournaments, with one of the host nation having a guaranteed berth and another having the possibility of qualifying through the ranking.

The Horse Guards Parade hosted the 2012 tournament.

2004

Following a FIVB change of rules in 2001, the scoring was changed from sets of 15 points in a superseded sideout system to sets of 21 points in a rally point system.^[1]

The format had the 24 competing teams were split equally into six pools of four. The top two teams from each pool and the four best third placed teams progressed through to a single-elimination tournament of sixteen teams.

The qualifying added a continental quota - in the event of an unrepresented continent, the top team from that continent earned a spot.

2008–2016

The six pools of four format was retained, but the qualifying for third-placed teams was changed. Of the six 3rd place teams, two were directly qualified to the playoffs. Of the four remaining third placed teams, another two teams get to the playoffs through winning a lucky loser (repechage) match.

Results summary

Men's tournament

Year	Host		Gold medal match				Bronze medal match				Teams
			Gold Medalists	Score	Silver Medalists		Bronze Medalists	Score	4th place
1996 Details	Atlanta		Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes	2–0	Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh		John Child and Mark Heese	2–0	João Brenha and Miguel Maia		24
2000 Details	Sydney		Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana	2–0	Zé Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos		Jörg Ahmann and Axel Hager	2–0	João Brenha and Miguel Maia		24
2004 Details	Athens		Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos	2–0	Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera		Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel	2–1	Julien Prosser and Mark Williams		24
2008 Details	Beijing		Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers	2–1	Márcio Araújo and Fábio Luiz Magalhães		Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos	2–0	Renato "Geor" Gomes and Jorge "Gia" Terceiro		24
2012 Details	London		Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann	2–1	Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego		Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Jānis Šmēdiņš	2–1	Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil		24
2016 Details	Rio de Janeiro		Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt	2–0	Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai		Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen	2–0	Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov		24
2020 Details	Tokyo

Women's tournament

Year	Host		Gold medal match				Bronze medal match				Teams
			Gold Medalists	Score	Silver Medalists		Bronze Medalists	Score	4th place
1996 Details	Atlanta		Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva	2–0	Mônica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel		Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst	2–0	Barbra Fontana and Linda Hanley		18
2000 Details	Sydney		Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst	2–0	Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar		Sandra Pires and Adriana Samuel	2–0	Yukiko Takahashi and Mika Teru Saiki		24
2004 Details	Athens		Misty May and Kerri Walsh	2–0	Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar		Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs	2–1	Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson		24
2008 Details	Beijing		Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings	2–0	Tian Jia and Wang Jie		Xue Chen and Zhang Xi	2–0	Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro		24
2012 Details	London		Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings	2–0	Jennifer Kessy and April Ross		Larissa França and Juliana Silva	2–1	Xue Chen and Zhang Xi		24
2016 Details	Rio de Janeiro		Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst	2–0	Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas		April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings	2–1	Talita Antunes and Larissa França		24
2020 Details	Tokyo

Participating nations

Men Nation 1996 (24) 2000 (24) 2004 (24) 2008 (24) 2012 (24) 2016 (24) Years  Angola • • • 19th • • 1  Argentina 14th 9th 9th 19th • • 4 • 19th • • • •  Australia 9th 9th 4th 9th • • 4 • 17th 9th • • •  Austria • 9th 17th 5th 19th 9th 5 • • 19th 9th • 9th  Brazil 9th 2nd 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 6 9th 9th 9th 3rd 5th 9th  Canada 3rd 5th 5th • 17th 9th 5 17th 9th • • • 19th  Chile • • • • • 19th 1  China • • • 9th 19th • 2  Cuba 7th • 17th • • 5th 3  Czech Republic 14th 17th • • 17th • 3  Estonia 17th • • 19th • • 2  France 14th 19th 19th • • • 3  Georgia • • • 4th • • 1  Germany 9th 3rd 5th 5th 1st 19th 6 • 19th 9th 19th 9th •  Great Britain • • • • 19th • 1  Greece • • 19th • • • 1  Indonesia 17th • • • • • 1  Italy 14th 19th • 19th 5th 2nd 5 • • • • • 9th  Japan 17th • • 9th 19th • 3  Latvia • • • 9th 3rd 19th 3 • • • • 9th •  Mexico • 9th • • • 9th 2  Netherlands 17th • • 5th 4th 3rd 4 • • • 17th • 5th  Norway 7th 9th 9th 19th 9th • 5 • 19th 19th • • •  New Zealand 17th • • • • • 1  Poland • • • • 5th 17th 2 • • • • • 17th  Portugal 4th 4th 9th • • • 3  Puerto Rico • • 19th • • • 1  Qatar • • • • • 9th 1  Russia • 9th • 9th 9th 4th 4 • • • • • 5th  South Africa • • 9th • 19th • 2  Spain 5th 5th 2nd 9th 9th 9th 6 17th • • • • •  Switzerland • 5th 3rd 9th 9th • 4 • • 5th 17th 9th •  Sweden 17th 19th 9th • • • 3  Tunisia • • • • • 19th 1  United States 1st 1st 5th 1st 5th 5th 6 2nd 5th 19th 5th 8th 19th 5th • • • • •  Venezuela • • • • 19h • 1 Total 19 17 17 18 19 16 36

Women Nation 1996 (18) 2000 (24) 2004 (24) 2008 (24) 2012 (24) 2016 (24) Years  Argentina • • • • 19th 19th 2  Australia 3rd 1st 4th 5th 19th 5th 6 7th 5th 9th • 19th 19th • 17th • • • •  Austria • • • 5th 5th • 2  Belgium • • • 9th • • 1  Brazil 1st 2nd 2nd 4th 3rd 2nd 6 2nd 3rd 5th 5th 9th 4th  Bulgaria • 17th 9th • • • 2  Canada 17th • 5th • 19th 5th 4 • • • • • 9th  China • 9th 9th 2nd 4th 9th 5 • 17th 19th 3rd • •  Costa Rica • • • • • 19th 1  Cuba • 9th 9th 9th • • 3 • • • 9th • •  Czech Republic • 9th 9th • 5th 17th 4 • 17th • • 17th •  Egypt • • • • • 19th 1  France 13th 9th • • • • 2  Georgia • • • 17th • • 1  Germany 7th 9th 5th 9th 5th 1st 6 • 9th 9th 9th 9th 9th  Great Britain 9th • • • 17th • 2  Greece • 17th 9th 9th 19th • 4 • • 9th 19th • •  Indonesia 13th • • • • • 1  Italy 13th 5th 5th • 5th 9th 5 • 9th • • • •  Japan 5th 4th 17th 19th • • 4 9th 17th • • • •  Mauritius • • • • 19th • 1  Mexico 17th 17th 19th 17th • • 4  Netherlands 13th 17th 19th 19th 9th 9th 6 • • • • 9th 19th  Norway 9th • 17th 9th • • 3 • • 19th 9th • •  Poland • • • • • 9th 1  Portugal • 9th • • • • 1  Russia • • • 19th 9th 5th 3 • • • • 9th •  South Africa • • 19th 19th • • 2  Spain • • • • 9th 9th 2  Switzerland • • 19th 19th 9th 5th 4 • • • • • 9th  United States 4th 5th 1st 1st 1st 3rd 6 5th 5th 3rd 5th 2nd 19th 9th • • • • •  Venezuela • • • • • 17th 1 Total 13 15 17 17 17 17 32

Medal table

Total

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	6	2	2	10
2	Brazil (BRA)	3	7	3	13
3	Germany (GER)	2	0	1	3
4	Australia (AUS)	1	0	1	2
5	China (CHN)	0	1	1	2
6	Italy (ITA)	0	1	0	1
	Spain (ESP)	0	1	0	1
8	Canada (CAN)	0	0	1	1
	Latvia (LAT)	0	0	1	1
	Netherlands (NED)	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 nations)		12	12	12	36

Medal table, men

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	3	1	0	4
2	Brazil (BRA)	2	3	1	6
3	Germany (GER)	1	0	1	2
4	Italy (ITA)	0	1	0	1
	Spain (ESP)	0	1	0	1
6	Canada (CAN)	0	0	1	1
	Latvia (LAT)	0	0	1	1
	Netherlands (NED)	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	0	0	1	1
Totals (9 nations)		6	6	6	18

Medal table, women

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	3	1	2	6
2	Brazil (BRA)	1	4	2	7
3	Australia (AUS)	1	0	1	2
4	Germany (GER)	1	0	0	1
5	China (CHN)	0	1	1	2
Totals (5 nations)		6	6	6	18

See also

• Volleyball at the Summer Olympics


• List of Olympic venues in volleyball

References

External links

• 
  Beach volleyball at the Official website of the FIVB


• 
  Beach volleyball at the Official website of the IOC