Thessaloniki, Greece, October 21, 2020 - As Maria Tsiartsiani celebrates the 40th birthday here today with a big cake at a family dinner, she and her husband Christoph Dieckmann will be remembering their past beach volleyball accomplishments as both are two-time Olympic participants.
Married in September 2014 on a beach about two hours from their home in Thessaloniki, Tsiartsiani and Dieckmann will be with their two children (daughter Sophia 7 and son Aris 3) today as both beach Olympians are coaching now after competing in a combined 306 international events, including 263 sanctioned FIVB tournaments.
The happy family in Greece.
When asked where they met, Christoph Dieckmann said “somewhere around the world, literally!”
Career highlights include competing in the same Olympics at Beijing in 2008. Tsiartsiani placed ninth for Greece with Efthalia Koutroumanidou in her first Summer Games appearance while Dieckmann was placing 19th with Julius Brink for Germany in his second Olympic start.
Dieckmann’s first Olympic experience was at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games when he and Andreas Scheuerpflug placed fifth. Dieckmann’s twin Markus also competed in the Athens Games with Jonas Reckermann as the pair placed ninth.
At Athens, the Dieckmanns were joined by another brother combination as Martin and Paul Laciga placed fifth for Switzerland. Nearly four years earlier, the Lacigas became the first brothers to compete in the beach volleyball Olympics by also placing fifth at the Sydney 2000 Summer Games.
While the 44-year old Christoph Dieckmann retired from competition in 2009 due to injuries, Tsiartsiani continued playing through 2015 with a year off in 2003 after having her first child. She and Vasiliki Arvaniti placed 19th at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Maria Tsiartsiani from Greece celebrates at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
As for their current beach volleyball involvement, Christoph Dieckmann said “Maria has been coaching the second Greek national team (Dimitra Manavi with different partners) for some years. This year, she is responsible for the Greek Federation’s training group in Thessaloniki. And, since the end of 2012, I am coaching Swiss women teams.”
In addition to her coaching and being the mother of two, Christoph Dieckmann said his wife is “running a Sports Club featuring tennis, beach volleyball, kids’ parties and summer camps in Thessaloniki with two business partners.”
As for her memorable beach volleyball moments, Tsiartsiani cited two Olympic matches in 2008 and 2012 and a “round of 16 victory at the 2012 European Championships where Vicki (Arvaniti) and I defeated Jana Kohler and Julia Sude of Germany in three sets 3-0 (21-23, 39-37, 18-16) that propelled us to a silver medal finish in The Hague and qualification for the London 2012 Olympic Games.”
While listing the beach venues in Klagenfurt (Austria) and Gstaad (Switzerland) as her favourite venues, Tsiartsiani said the women’s players are bigger and stronger today. “The game has definitely changed since I stopped playing in 2015,” said Tsiartsiani, who competed in 151 FIVB events with six different partners. “Being 1.80 m, I had good jumping ability. But now, you have players like Pavan (Sarah of Canada), Klineman (Alix of the United States) and Ana Patricia (Silva of Brazil) that are all 1.93 m or taller.”
Maria Tsiartsiani from Greece blocking at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games against China's Xi Zhang.
With 179 participations to tie Brazilian Talita Antunes for the most FIVB events played since the start of women’s competition in 1992, Arvaniti is the only Greek to play in more FIVB events than Tsiartsiani. Arvaniti and Tsiartsiani’s 67 World Tour starts together is the most-ever by a Greek tandem on the international circuit.