Hamburg, Germany, June 26, 2019 - With the $1-million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships starting Friday, here are 21 facts to start the competition as 96 teams from 38 countries are scheduled to compete during the 10-day, 216-match event at Am Rothenbaum through July 6 and 7 for the medal matches.
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1. The first FIVB World Championships recognized officially by the FIVB were played from September 10-13, 1997 at the tennis centre on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles.
2. The number of times Germany has hosted the FIVB World Championships with the first being Berlin for the 2005 World Championships June 22-26.
3. The number of World Championship gold medals won by Brazilian Emanuel Rego as he topped the podium in 1999 with Jose Loiola, 2003 with Ricardo Santos and 2011 with Alison Cerutti.
4. The number of World Championship gold medal matches played by American Kerri Walsh Jennings as she and Misty May-Treanor captured the gold medal in 2003, 2005 and 2007, followed by a silver medal in 2001.
5. The number of World Championship appearances together by Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera as the Spaniards' appearance in Hamburg will be their sixth.
Spaniards Adrian Gavira (left) and Pablo Herrera
6. The number of World Championship appearances by Portugal’s Joao Brenha/Miguel Maia and Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar for the most participations by one men’s and one women’s team, respectively.
7. The number of World Championship appearances by Germany’s Laura Ludwig.
8. The number of World Championships appearances by Rebekka Kadijk of the Netherlands, the most by any woman.
9. The number of World Championship appearances by Austrian Clemens Doppler
10. The number of World Championship appearances by Brazil’s Emanuel Rego, the most by any man.
Emanuel Rego of Brazil appeared in ten Beach Volleyball World Championships
11. The 11th edition of the World Championships was played July 28-August 6, 2017 in Vienna with teams from Brazil and Germany winning the men’s and women’s gold medals, respectively,
12. The number of men’s (1997 1999, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2015 and 2017) and women’s (1997, 1999, 2001, 2011 and 2015) gold medals won by Brazil.
13. The World Championship seed for Dutchmen Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, who became the lowest seeded men’s team to win a gold medal by defeating Alvaro Filho/Ricardo Santos of Brazil in the Stare Jablonki 2013 finale.
Dutchmen Robert Meeuwsen (left) and Alexander Brouwer.
14. The latest start date for the World Championships was October 14, 2003 in Rio for the men’s competition.
15. The combined number of men’s and women’s World Championship medals won by European countries to match the number claimed by Americans.
16. The number of men’s (seven) and women’s (nine) semifinal matches at the World Championships decided in three sets.
17. The number of final four finishes by Brazilian men’s teams at the World Championships.
18. The number of semifinal appearances by Brazilian women’s teams at the World Championships.
19. The World Championship seed for Americans Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, who became the lowest seeded women’s team to win a gold medal by defeating Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca of Brazil in the Berlin 2005 finale.
20. The number of points scored by Mariano Baracetti/Martin Conde in the third-and-deciding set when the Argentineans captured the 2001 gold medal in Klagenfurt by defeating Jose Loiola/Ricardo Santos of Brazil in the finals.
21. The ages of the Christoph and Markus Dieckmann when the Germans competed and placed 33rd at the 1997 World Championships in Los Angeles.
Christoph (left) and Markus Dieckmann (centre) with Julius Brink