AN OLYMPIC BABY -
BEACH VOLLEYBALL AT THE ATLANTA OLYMPICS

Although Beach - Volleyball has been played in some parts of the world for many decades (e.g. on the beaches of Southern California and in Brazil), in other countries it is a relatively new kind of (organised) sport.
Due to climatic conditions in many parts of the world, Beach - Volleyball - players are restricted to play their favourite sport during the summer months, whereas during the rest of the year they only can play indoors.

Another surprising fact is the short time it took Beach - Volleyball to become an Olympic sport. But as the professional Beach Volleyball tours, especially in the United States, but also in other countries of the American continent and lately also in Europe, have become an important factor of the sports industry and publicity business, it was not all that big a surprise that under the IOC - presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch it was included in the program of the Atlanta Olympics 1996.

Juan Antonio Samaranch (International Olympic Committee President) confirmed to Ruben Acosta (FIVB President), that Beach Volleyball will be included in the Sidney 2000 Games.

Once included for the 1996 - games there arouse a dispute between the US-professional league (W)AVP and the International VB Federation FIVB on the form of qualification for the Olympic Games. Not only did the two organisations use different balls, courts and rules, the (W)AVP-players also had to compete in the FIVB events to be able to qualify for Atlanta.
Once these disputes were settled, all was ready for the 80 matches to be played in both the men’s and women’s competition.
On the last day of the event, when the finals were to be played, in both the men’s and the women’s tournament the winning nations had already been decided. In the ladies’ event it was an all - Brazilian - final, whereas the men’s Gold Medal was to go to the United States.

Karch Kiraly, who had already won Olympic Gold with the US-indoor team at the 1988 Seoul Games in Korea, defeated together with his team mate Kent Steffes the other US team (Mike Dodd / Mike Whitmarsh) with a relatively easy 12 : 5, 12 : 8 victory. Third place and the Bronze medal went to the Canadian team formed by John Child and Mark Heese, leaving the third US-team Sinjin Smith / Carl Henkel in fourth place.

Mark Heese & John Child (CAN): Bronze Medal in Atlanta

Whereas all the men’s medals went to the northern hemisphere, all the ladies’ medals were won by participants from the southern hemisphere.

One of the most remarkable facts of this Brazilian double victory was that they were the first women in Brazil’s history to win an Olympic medal of any colour.
Bronze went to Australia, when Kerri Ann Pottharst and Natalie Cook won against the only US-medal-hope Linda Hanley / Barbra Fontana Harris by 12 : 11 and 12 : 7, thus leaving the United States without any medal in women’s Volleyball, because in the classical indoor competition the US - team finished in a more than disappointing 7th place.
The fact of not winning any medal at the Atlanta Olympics might have very negative effects on the further development of professional Volleyball in the US. Nancy Lengel, executive director of the Women’s Professional Volleyball Association WPVA, agrees that American medals would certainly have made sponsorship sales efforts easier. But then she also considers that the inclusion of Beach Volleyball as an Olympic sport and the attendent media coverage will still be of benefit for the sport.

Switzerland 001 b	United States 004 a	Honduras 002-003 b

With just one year to go before the second Olympic Beach Volleyball tournament will take place in Sydney, Australia, we can already be curious about which nations will dominate the sandy arena in the year 2000. After the World Championships, which were held in Los Angeles, U.S.A. in 1997, it might be an interesting battle between Brazil and the United States (results of the World Championships: Women: 1. Brazil, 2. U.S.A., 3. Brazil / U.S.A.; Men: 1. Brazil, 2. U.S.A., 3. Brazil / U.S.A.).