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Youth World Championships, Olympic titles & World Tour Finals highlighted

 
Lausanne, Switzerland, August 23, 2020 - A total 14 major championships were decided during the August 23-29 time frame to highlight this week in FIVB beach volleyball history where gold medals were awarded at 51 international events.

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The 2017 FIVB season ended in Hamburg with the World Tour Finals as Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany won their final international event together by topping the women’s podium on August 26. The Hamburg win was the 11th and final FIVB World Tour gold medal for the Ludwig/Walkenhorst partnership. The next day in Hamburg, Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena won the FIVB World Tour Finals for their eighth FIVB gold medal.


Four Olympic crowns were awarded this week highlighted by Athens 2004 gold medals for Americans Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brazilians Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos on August 24 and August 25, respectively.

The Athens Olympic crown was the first of three Summer Games gold medals for May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings, who also topped the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 podiums. The Athens gold was Ricardo’s second of three Olympic medals and the first of three Summer Games podiums for Emanuel.

In 2014, the first Youth Olympic gold medals were earned in China as Brazilians Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa/Ana Patricia Silva and Russians Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin of Russia defeated teams from Canada and Venezuela in the men’s and women’s Nanjing finals, respectively.

Oleg Stoyanovskiy (left) and Artem Yarzutkin of Russia pose with their Najing 2014 Youth Olympic gold medals

The last six major medals were attained in 2001, 2006 and 2009 FIVB youth and junior World Championships at events in France, Poland and Turkey as four teams from Brazil collected titles along with pairs from Germany and Russia.

Brazil swept the gold medals at the 2001 Under 21 World Championships in Le Lavandou, France with Shaylyn Bede and Maria Clara Salgado winning the women’s title and Pedro Cunha and Anselmo Sigoli the men’s winners on August 26.

Five years later on August 27 in Myslowice, Poland, Brazilians posted another podium sweep at the Under-21 World Championships as Carolina Aragao and Barbara Seixas topped the women’s field and Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Pedro Solberg claimed the men’s title.

2006 Under-21 world champions Pedro Solberg (left) and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil

In 2009 on August 23 in Alanya, Turkey at the Under-19 World Championships, the European pairs of Christine Aulenbrock/Victoria Bieneck of Germany and Sergiy Popov/Valeriy Samoday of the Ukraine topped the girl’s and boy’s podiums.

International milestones were also achieved this week in World Tour history at the 2010 Milner Open in The Hague, Netherlands. On August 25, Norway's Vegard Hoidalen and Jorre Kjemperud played a match in their 135th men’s FIVB event together to break the record of 134 appearances set by Portugal's Joao Brenha and Miguel Maia.

A record 135 FIVB events together as FIVB Technical Supervisor Roberto Reggiani (left) gives the game ball to Norway's Vegard Hoidalen (centre) and Jorre Kjemperud.

At the end of the event on August 29, 21st-seeded Casey Jennings and Kevin Wong of the United States scored a 2-1 (21-18, 18-21 and 17-15) gold medal win in 60 minutes over the eighth-seeded Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil.

With the win, Jennings and Wong became the first duo to claim a gold at an event after being awarded a "lucky losers" main draw berth despite losing a match in the qualifier. The previous best finish by a “lucky loser” was a third by Germans Sebastian Dollinger and Stefan Windscheif at a 2008 event in Manama, Bahrain.

Five Olympians from Argentina (Martin Conde 49 Tuesday), Brazil (Talita Antunes is 38 on Sunday), Italy (Greta Cicolari, 38, Sunday and Laura Bruschini, 54, Wednesday) and Japan (Ryo Tokuno, 46, Thursday) are celebrating birthdays this week.

Talita Antunes of Brazil at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Conde competed in the first four Olympic beach volleyball competitions with Talita appearing in the last two Summer Games. The South Americans combined to win 41 gold medals and place on 103 FIVB World Tour podiums. Talita’s 34 gold medals rank fifth all-time for women behind compatriots Larissa Franca (62) and Juliana Felisberta (48) and Americans Walsh Jennings (56) and May-Treanor (43).

Here is a list of gold medals for the August 23-29 time period.

August 23
In 1992, Paulao Moreira and Paulo Emilio Silva of Brazil won the Lignano Open. It was the second of five FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 1998, Massimo Marino and Alessandro Rigo of Italy won the Albena Challenger. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 1998, Rogerio 'Para' Ferreira and Guilherme Marques of Brazil won the Moscow Open. It was the sixth of seven FIVB World Tour wins for the team.  
In 2008, Lauren Fendrick and Ashley Ivy Swift of the United States won the Hacienda Bay Beach Challenger. It was the second of two FIVB wins for the team.
In 2009, Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of the Netherlands won the Aland Open. It was the fourth of nine FIVB World Tour wins for team.
In 2009, Aulenbrock and Bieneck won the FIVB Under 19 World Championships at Alanya, Turkey. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2009, Popov and Samoday won the FIVB Under 19 World Championships at Alanya, Turkey. It was the second of two FIVB wins for the team.
In 2014, Talita and Larissa Franca won the Stare Jablonki Grand Slam. It was the second of 16 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2015, Alison Cerutti and Bruno won the Long Beach Grand Slam. It was the fifth of 12 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2015, Talita and Larissa won the Long Beach. It was the eighth of 16 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.

The 2019 Under-19 World Championship podium with presenters

August 24
In 1997, Dmitry Areshkin and Edouard Senin of Russia won the Albena Challenger. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2003, Emilia Nystrom and Erika Nystrom of Finland won the Le Lavandou Satellite. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2003, Guilherm Deulofeu and Ogier Molinier of France won the Le Lavandou Satellite. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2003, Jia Tian and Fei Wang of China won the Bali Open. It was the first of two FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2004, May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings of the United States won the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. It was the 15th of 40 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2014, Alvaro Filho and Solberg won the Stare Jablonki Grand Slam. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.
In 2019, Iris Reinders and Mexime van Driel of the Netherlands won the Rubavu Open. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.
In 2019, Masato Kurasaka and Kensuke Shoji of Japan won the Rubavu Open. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.

The 2019 Rubavu podium with teams from Denmark, England, Japan and the Netherlands

August 25
In 1996, Ze Marco de Melo and Emanuel won the Lignano Open. It was the eighth of 15 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2004, Emanuel and Ricardo won the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. It was the 12th of 33 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2013, Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia won the Moscow Grand Slam. It was the second of 13 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2013, Carolina and Maria Clara Salgado won the Moscow Grand Slam. It was the second of two FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2019, Samoilovs and Smedins won the Jurmala Open. It was the 13th of 13 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2019, Jingzhe Wang and Shuhui Wen of China won the Zhongwei Open. It was the fifth of five FIVB World Tour wins for the team.


August 26
In 1995, Roberto Lopes and Franco Neto of Brazil won the La Baule Open. It was the ninth of 13 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2001, Cunha and Sigoli of Brazil won the FIVB Under-21 World Championships at Le Lavandou, France. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2001, Shaylyn and Maria Clara won the FIVB Under-21 World Championships at Le Lavandou, France. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2001, Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil won the Hong Kong Open. It was the 25th of 31 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2014, Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa and Ana Patricia of Brazil won the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. It was the first of three FIVB wins for the team.
In 2017, Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany won the FIVB World Tour Finals in Hamburg. It was the 11th and final FIVB World Tour win for the team.
In 2018, Romain Di Giantommaso and Jeremy Silvestre of France won the Siofok Open. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.
In 2018, Tjasa Jancar and Tjasa Kotnik of Slovenia won the Siofok Open. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.

The 2018 Siofok podium with teams from France, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Slovenia and Sweden

August 27
In 1995, Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno of the United States won the FIVB Portugal Open. It was the fourth of seven FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2006, Bruno and Solberg won the FIVB Under-21 World Championships at Myslowice, Poland. It was the first of three FIVB wins for the team.
In 2006, Carolina and Barbara won the FIVB Under-21 World Championships at Myslowice, Poland. It was the first of three FIVB wins for the team.
In 2014, Stoyanovskiy and Yarzutkin won the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2017, Dalhausser and Lucena won the FIVB World Tour Finals in Hamburg. It was the eighth of nine FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2019, Morten Overgaard and Daniel Thomsen of Denmark won the Salalah Open. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.

The 2006 women's Under-21 world champions Carolina Aragao and Barbara Seixas of Brazil

August 28
In 1996, Francisco Alvarez and Juan Rossell of Cuba won the Agrigento Challenger. It was the second of two FIVB wins for the team.
In 2005, Benjamin Insfran and Harley Marques of Brazil won the Montreal Open. It was the first of two FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2005, Juliana and Larissa won the Montreal Open. It was the sixth of 45 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2011, Juliana and Larissa won the The Hague Open. It was the 42nd of 45 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2011, Cunha and Ricardo won the The Hague Open. It was the second of four FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2016, April Ross and Walsh Jennings won the Long Beach Grand Slam. It was the 11th and final FIVB World Tour win over the team.
In 2016, Evandro Goncalves and Solberg won the Long Beach Grand Slam. It was the third and final FIVB World Tour win for the team.

Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings (left) and April Ross with their surf boards after winning the 2016 Long Beach Grand Slam

August 29
In 2004, Ethel-Julie Arjona and Virginie Kadjo of France won the Le Lavandou Satellite. It was the first of two FIVB wins for the team.
In 2004, Jochem De Gruijter and Gijs Ronnes of the Netherlands won the Le Lavandou Satellite. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2009, Juliana and Larissa won the The Hague Open. It was the 28th of 45 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2010, Maria Antonelli and Talita won the The Hague Open. It was the sixth of eight FIVB World Tour wins for the team.
In 2010, Jennings and Wong won the The Hague Open. It was the first and only FIVB win for the team.
In 2015, Talita and Larissa won the Olsztyn Grand Slam. It was the ninth of 16 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.

Menco Sandstra (centre) of Milner with his men's podium (left to right) of Benjamin Insfran, Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Kevin Wong, Casey Jennings, Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena.

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