Gstaad, Switzerland, July 9, 2016 - The drawing of lots for the Beach Volleyball program at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was completed here Saturday evening as 44 of the 48 men’s and women’s teams scheduled to participate in the Copacabana conclave next month learned who their pool play opponents will be for the first phase of the competition.
"What an amazing venue for this momentous occasion," said FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° “Thanks to our professional athletes and the constant improvement of our sport’s global image, Beach Volleyball will be a centre-piece of this summer’s Olympic Games. The top 24 men’s and women’s teams will no doubt put on an incredible show from August 6-18.”
With 22 of the 24 berths in each gender’s competition already filled for the August 6-18 Rio Olympic competition, the final two men’s and women’s berth will be determined Sunday in the FIVB Continental Cup Finals in Russia where the matches began Thursday in Sochi.
To start the draw, the top six-seeded teams were confirmed and placed atop the six pools in each gender’s competition. Pool A in the men’s and women’s program are filled by the Brazilian pairs of Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, respectively.
Both teams finished atop the Rio 2016 Olympic ranking list to earn their top-seeding in the Beach Volleyball competition. To qualifying for the listing, a team had to play in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic Qualification tournaments (FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and recognized Continental Tour Finals) scheduled from January 1, 2015 until June 12, 2016 to be selected by a qualified national federation.
Other top pool pairs for men are Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands (Pool B), Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena of the United States (Pool C), Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg of Brazil (Pool D), Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands (Pool E) and Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson of the United States (Pool F).
Joining Talita and Larissa as the top women’s seeds are Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas of Brazil (Pool B), April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings of United States (Pool C), Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany (Pool D), Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan of Canada (Pool E) and Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands, (Pool F).
Here are the pool makeups for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Men
Pool A - Alison/Bruno, Brazil; Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri, Italy; Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria; WCOQ 1 (Canada or Venezuela)
Pool B - Brouwer/Meeuwsen, Netherlands; Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland; Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany; WCOQ 2 (Belgium or Russia))
Pool C - Dalhausser/Lucena, United States; Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy; Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen, Mexico; Choaib Belhaj/Mohamed Naceur, Tunisia
Pool D - Evandro/Pedro, Brazil; Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia; Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Canada; Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba
Pool E - Nummerdor/Varenhorst, Netherlands; Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov, Russia; Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland; Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt, Chile
Pool F - Gibb/Patterson, United States; Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera, Spain; Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl, Austria; Jefferson Pereira/Cherif Younousse, Qatar
Women
Pool A - Talita/Larissa/Franca, Brazil; Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland; Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat, United States; WCOQ 2 (Austria or Russia)
Pool B - Agatha/Barbara, Brazil; Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez, Spain; Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug, Argentina; WCOQ 1 (China or Czech Republic)
Pool C - Ross/Walsh Jennings, United States; Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland; Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, China; Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird, Australia
Pool D - Ludwig/Walkenhorst, Germany; Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, Italy; Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas, Canada; Doaa Elghobashy/Nada Meawad, Egypt
Pool E - Bansley/Pavan, Canada; Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Germany; Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland; Jantine van der Vlist/Sophie van Gestel, Netherlands
Pool F - Meppelink/Van Iersel, Netherlands; Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, Australia; Karen Cope Charles/Nathalia Alfaro, Costa Rica; Norisbeth Agudo/Olaya Pazo, Venezuela
During Saturday's presentation, FIVB Beach Volleyball Director Angelo Squeo said "We started three years ago with the qualification. We counted 100 events and 169 countries, that were participating.”
Here is an "insider" look at the men's and women's Rio 2016 Olympic Games' pools from Julius Brink, the London 2012 gold medal winner.