ACOG - Beach Volleyball - IBM

Who to Watch in Beach Volleyball

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Although experiencing a world-wide boom in popularity, beach volleyball remains the championship domain of just three countries. Brazil, Norway and the United States have won virtually every major championship, and head the list of highly rated entries in the Olympic tournament.

The tournament's top qualifying team, Brazil's Roberto LOPES and Franco NIETO cruised to first-place finishes in six of the first 11 FIVB World Series Championship tournaments on their way to the 1996 world championship. The Brazilians rank among the tour's top-three leaders in tournament earnings and their lengthy list of accomplishments includes wins at Clearwater, Pusan, Enoshima, Espinho and Pornichet. Brazil's second entry in the tournament may be just as imposing. Ze Marco DE MELO and Emanuel REGO captured titles at Ostenda and Cape Town and lost to LOPES/NIETO in all-Brazilian finals at Espinho and Pornichet. Brazilian teams won nine consecutive FIVB tour events and were shut out of the medals only once in 17 tournament stops.

While some countries have established their beach volleyball dominance with a variety of teams, Norway earned its reputation with just a single pair. Jan KVALHEIM and Bjorn MAASEIDE will try to add the Olympic gold medal to a collection of titles that includes the 1994-95 World Championships and the 1994 Goodwill Games.

The birthplace of beach volleyball, the United States enters three teams in the tournament led by automatic qualifiers Sinjin SMITH and Carl HENKEL. A member of the 1980 U.S. men's six-player indoor national team, Smith missed the Olympic Games due to the United States boycott. The long-time beach legend came out of retirement in 1994 for a chance to return to the Games , teaming with 1993 U.S. national team member HENKEL to earn medal finishes at Enoshima, Carolina and Pusan.

Opposition to the Olympic qualifying procedure kept Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes out of most of the FIVB tournaments, but it didn't keep the U.S. pair off the court. The duo dominated play in the highly competitive Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour by winning three of the circuit's first five tournaments of the season before landing a spot in the Games at the U.S. Olympic trials. A two-time gold medalist for the U.S. six-player team, Kiraly has won more than 100 beach titles over his career while STEFFES recently rejoined his partner after missing most of last season following shoulder surgery. The top team at the U.S. Trials, former basketball players Mike DODD and Mike WHITMARSH traded their hightops for hard hits in earning their spot in the Games. One of the AVP's top teams, "the Mikes" also won the championship at the Hermosa Beach stop of the FIVB tour.

Canada's John CHILD and Mark HEESE finished in the top five at Enoshina, Ostenda, Pornichet and Carolina and will join Edward DRAKICH and Mark DUNN as their country's hopes for a first-ever Olympic volleyball medal.

Martin CONDE and Esteban MARTINEZ of Argentina also could work their way through the double-elimination bracket following a pair of impressive second-place finishes on the FIVB tour, while Cuba's Francisco ALVAREZ / Juan MILANES ROSELL won the Carolina Beach tournament in Puerto Rico.

Spain earned its first-ever Olympic indoor volleyball berth as the host country in Barcelona, and qualified two teams to the beach event with Javier BOSMA and Sixto JIMENE, and Javier JUSTE and Miguel Martin PRIETO.

While the Spaniards are just beginning to make their mark in the sport, veterans Christian PENIGAUD and Jean-Phillipe JODARD of France have competed in more World Championship Series tournaments than virtually any other pair. The French team placed first at Almeria in 1991 and earned a fourth-place finish at Hermosa Beach this season.

A silver medalist with the Netherlands indoors team at Barcelona, Marko KLOK teamed with Michael VAN DER KUIP to earn their countries top qualifying spot and join countrymen Michael EVERAERT and Sander MULDER in the tournament field.

Germany's Jorg AHMANN amd Axel HAGER and Italy's Andrea GHIURGHI / Nicola GRIGOLO recorded their best finishes at the Cape Town tournament while Portugal's Joao BRENHA and Luis MAIA placed fourth at Carolina.

The "Thunder from Down Under," Julien PROSSER and teammate Andrew BURDIN head Australia's entry in the tournament while brothers Glenn and Reid HAMILTON hold New Zealand's hopes for a medal.

Sweden's Tom ENGLEN and Frdrjk PETERSON finished seventh at Cape Town to round out the field along with Indonesia's Markoji MARKOJI and Mohanad NURMUFID, the Czech Republic's team of Marek PAKOSTA and Michal PALINEK and Japan's Kazuyuki TAKAO and Shouji SETOYAMA.

WOMEN

The beneficiaries of moderate climates and long coastlines, the United States and Brazil have dominated the beach at the international level and enter the first Olympic tournament as the gold medal favorites.

As synonymous with the sport as surf and sand, Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno of the United States have spent almost as much time on the victory podium as on the court. The duo won six of the nine FIVB World Series events they entered in 1995-96 in addition to winning 14 Women's Pro Volleyball Association (WPVA) titles. With the game's top defensive player in McPeak and a powerful blocker and hitter in Reno, the dynamic pair earned the U.S. team's automatic bid to the Games and claimed the top two spots on both the WPVA and FIVB earnings lists. However, McPeak and Reno are not the host country's only medal possibilities. The top team at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Linda Hanley and Barbara Fontana-Harris already own a victory over McPeak and Reno in the finals of the FIVB tour stop in Santos, Brazil while veterans Gail CASTRO and Debra RICHARDSON earned their spot at the Games with a second-place finish at the U.S. Trials.

The United States is the only country with three teams entered in the tournament, but the tournament's hosts are not alone in their lofty hopes for multiple medals. Brazil enters a pair of teams led by the tour's past two world champions.

The most consistent team on the FIVB circuit, Brazil's Jackie Silva and Sandrinha PIRES won the 1996 world championship and earned their trip to the Games with the tour's highest qualifying point total. The pair also won championships in LaSerena, Rio de Janeiro and Clearwater and finished among the top three finishers at virtually every stop of the qualifying tour. SILVA and PIRES saw a streak of 22 straight victories snapped by MCPEAK and RENO, but the Brazilians handed the U.S. duo more losses than any other team during the 1995-96 season. Another high-ranking Brazilian team, Monica RODRIGUES and Adriana SAMUEL won the 1994-95 World Championship title and will try to capture another top prize after finishing third at Carolina and fifth at Hermosa.

Australia's Kerri POTTHARST and Nathalie COOK have continued their climb up the rankings, concluding the 1995-96 tour with the third-highest qualifying point total. No strangers to pressure matches, the duo defeated McPeak and Reno at the 1996 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro while Cook teamed with another Australian Olympian, Anita PALM, for a fifth-place finish at the 1994 Goodwill Games. PALM and teammate Liane FENWICK make up Australia's second Olympic entry after placing seventh at the Espinho leg of the FIVB tour.

Japan won the first-ever Olympic six-player volleyball medal on the indoor court, and a pair of Japanese teams could continue the tradition on the sand. Sachiko FUJITA / Yukiko TAKAHASHI placed as high as fifth at Santos and Espinho while Yukiko ISHIZAKA / Teruko NAKANO earned a fifth-place finish at Puerto Rico's Carolina Beach.

Germany's Beate BUEHLER and Danja MUSCH finished fourth at Carolina and will join the Netherlands' Debora SCHOON and Lisette VAN DE VEN and Canada's Margo MALOWNEY / Barb BROEN-OUELLETTE in the medal quest.

Italy, Great Britain, Norway, France and Indonesia are first-time entries in any Olympic women's volleyball tournament, indoor or beach. Although never qualifying for the Olympic six-player tournament, all five countries earned representation at Atlanta Beach with A. Maria SOLAZZI and Consuelo TURETTA representing Italy, Amanda GLOVER and Audrey COOPER from Great Britain, Merita BERNTSEN and Ragni HESTAD of Norway, Brigitte LESAGE and Annabelle PRAWERMAN from France and Berta KAIZE and Timy YUDHANI from Indonesia. Mexico's Velia Euiluz SOTO and Mayra HUERTA round out the 18-team field.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publication Department. Written by Howard Thomas.


Olympic Factoid
Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park.