page_title: Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics
section_title: Women's beach volleyball
hierarchical_section_title: Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics / History / Women's beach volleyball
caption_attribution_description: English: Rio de Janeiro - As alemãs Ludwig e Walkenhorst, levam ouro na final do vôlei de praia, contra as brasileiras, Ágatha e Bárbara, nos Jogos Olímpicos Rio 2016 ( Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil)
context_page_description: Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games as a demonstration event, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996.
  Brazil has won a gold or a silver medal at every Olympic beach volleyball tournament, in either the men's or women's tournament competition, since its introduction in 1996. The United States has also won at least a bronze medal in every men's or women's tournament in the same period.
  Winning the Olympics is considered to be the highest honor in international beach volleyball, followed by the World Championships, and the World Tour of the International Volleyball Federation for men and women.
context_section_description: In Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996, there were eighteen teams entered, and the championship match was played between two Brazilian teams: Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires versus Mônica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel. The Australians Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst edged out the Americans for the bronze medal.
  At the Sydney Olympics of 2000, the number of teams was increased to 24. One of the two Australian teams, Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst, won the gold medal over the Brazilians Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede, four years after winning the bronze medal in Atlanta. Another Brazilian team, featuring 1996 champion Sandra Pires and runner-up Adriana Samuel, edged out the Japanese for the bronze medal.
  Behar and Bede of Brazil avenged the 2000 defeat by beating Natalie Cook (now partnered with Nicole Sanderson) in the 2004 semifinal to return to the final match, but they were defeated by Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States. Both May-Treanor and Walsh were veterans of the Sydney Olympics, but Walsh had been part of the American indoor team. Another American team, Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs (the former in her third tournament, having been fourth in Atlanta), defeated the Australian team for the bronze medal.
  In 2008 in China, May-Treanor and Walsh (now going by her married name of Walsh Jennings) were victorious again by defeating the Chinese team of Tian Jia and Wang Jie in the finals. Another Chinese team won the bronze medal, edging out Brazil in fourth place, and thus sending the Brazilian women home without a medal for the only time in the tournament history so far.
  In 2012 in England May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings won for the third consecutive Olympiad by defeating the other American team of April Ross and Jennifer Kessy in the championship game. Thus the United States finished with the gold and silver medals, with Brazil winning the bronze medal, edging out China in fourth place.
  The 2016 tournament in Brazil had the country return to the beach volleyball final after 12 years, with Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas winning the semifinal over defending champion Walsh Jennings and London silver medallist April Ross. However, they lost the gold medal to the Germans Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, who had also defeated the Brazilians Talita Antunes (4th in 2008) and Larissa França (bronze in 2012) in the semifinals. Talita and Larissa also lost the bronze medal to the United States, making Walsh Jennings the only player to win four beach volleyball Olympic medals. The defeat also broke a streak where every tournament had one country winning medals with both their teams: Brazil in 1996 (gold and silver) and 2000 (silver and bronze), United States in 2004 (gold and bronze) and 2012 (gold and silver), and China in 2008 (silver and bronze). There were also four teams tied for fifth place: Australia, Canada, Russia, and Switzerland, and hence seven countries were represented in the top eight teams.
  While nine countries won medals in the male tournament, only five have done so with women. The dominating nations are Brazil and the US. Americans have the most gold medals, three earned by Walsh-May. The only country outside the five medallists (Brazil, USA, Australia, China and Germany) to reach the semifinals was Japan in 2000.
caption: Brasil winner silver medalist Olympics 2016
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