Forty-eight beach volleyball teams for the Beijing Olympics were announced
later yesterday in Lausanne, Switzerland with US teams topping both the men's
and women's standing, the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) said in
a press release.
The teams, equal for men and women, will be competing at the Chaoyang Park in
Beijing from Aug. 9-22 for Olympic medals.
Qualification events were finished Monday in Marseille, France, but the FIVB
was awaiting the entry form by each National Olympic Committee to confirm the
list for Beijing.
The qualifications were based on the best eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour
finishes from January 2007 through July 20, 2008. A total of 29 men's and 28
women's qualifying events were held in the past 15 months.
A country quota regulation, under which each NOC could send maximum two teams
for the Olympics, and a continental quota, which allows one team from each
continent to participate even if it fails to qualify with the World Tour
results, are also put into consideration in producing the qualification list.
In the women's list, US pair Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, the Athens
Olympics gold medallists, is on the top with 6,440 points, followed by Chinese
pair Tian Jia and Wang Jie, which will replace Walsh and May-Treanor to be the
top seed in the Olympic competition as the hosts. Zhang Xi/Xue Chen will also
compete for the host country.
Two Brazilian duos, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca and Talita
Antunes/Renata Ribiero are also among the best six in the list.
Another US pair, Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs, is placed sixth.
Judith Deister Augoustides and Vitalila Nel of South Africa acquired a berth
thanks to the continental quota.
Germany, Norway, Austria, Greece and Cuba each will also send two women teams
to Beijing.
In the men's section, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers are topping the
qualification list, followed by two Brazilian teams, Ricardo Santos/Emanuel
Rego, defending Olympic champions, and Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes.
Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil of the Netherlands and Julius Brink
/Christoph Dieckmann of Germany, ranking fourth and sixth respectively, will
also be seeds in preliminary round draw.
China's Xu Linyin/Wu Penggen, ranking fifth, will be first seed in the
preliminary round draw at the Olympics.
Besides the United States and Brazil, nations sending two men teams include
the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Angola's Emanuel Fernandes and Morais Abreu qualified thanks to the
continental quota.
The drawing for the preliminary round will be held in Gstaad, Switzerland
tomorrow.