News 29/04/2016 Gstaad set to host Rio draw Gstaad, Switzerland, April 29, 2016 – The Gstaad Swatch FIVB World Tour Major Series tournament is set to be one of the most memorable events on the 2015-16 FIVB beach volleyball calendar.The tournament in the Swiss Alps will run from July 5-10 and is one of the most anticipated and long-running World Tour tournaments. As well as attracting the cream of the beach volleyball world, this year the event features the added intrigue of the drawing of lots for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games beach volleyball competition taking place on the evening of Saturday, July 9.At the moment there is sure to be strong Swiss interest in the draw as two women’s teams are on course to compete at Copacabana. Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Vergé-Dépré recently won their first World Tour gold medals, at the Xiamen Open in China, while a week later compatriots Nadine Zumkehr and Joana Heidrich won bronze at the Fuzhou Open, their third World Tour medals as a pair.The draw for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will include a total of 24 teams per gender. Qualification places are allocated to national federations and not teams, with each national federation allowed to have a maximum of two teams representing them per gender.As hosts, Brazil are guaranteed one qualification berth per gender. The national federation of the winners from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015 will also be granted a berth. As this was Brazil in both the men’s (Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt) and women’s (Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas) tournaments it means the hosts have reached the maximum quota of Olympic places allowed.The 15 highest ranked teams on the Olympic Ranking List as of June 13, 2016 will each earn one quota place for their national federation to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, respecting the maximum of two quota places per national federation.Each team must have participated in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic Qualification tournaments (FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour/FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015/recognised Continental Tour Finals) scheduled from January 1, 2015 until June 12, 2016 should they wish to be selected by a qualified national federation.An additional five places will go to Continental Cup final winners, who will be joined by the winners and runners-up of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Continental Cup to be played in Sochi, Russia from July 4-10.Related information:Click here for more information about the Olympic qualification process.Current provisional Olympic ranking – Men.Current provisional Olympic ranking – Women. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News