Beijing Olympic beach volleyball tournament was wrapped up on Friday as the United States, Brazil and China shared all the six medals on offer.
The United States, where beach volleyball was originated, maintains its leading role in the sport. The country won both the women's and men's titles at the Beijing Olympics.
Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, 2007 world champions and widely considered gold favorites before the Beijing Olympics opened, beat Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz Magalhaes of Brazil in the men's final.
At women's side, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who have been playing more solid than at the Athens Games, won the gold medal in a convincing victory, thrashing China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie in two sets.
Since the television-friendly sport made its debut at the Olympics in 1996, the United States has won the men's event three times plus a silver medal. In the women's version, the Americans were awarded gold medals twice and bronze medal once.
Brazil, along with the United States boasting a long and fruitful history of developing beach volleyball, captured the silver and bronze medals in the men's section at the Beijing Games, showing the country is still a powerhouse in the sport.
Its women duo Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro lost to China's Zhang Xi and Xue Chen in the women's bronze medal match, stopping short of earning a medal for Brazil.
Since the 1996 Atlanta Games, Brazil has earned one gold, two silver and one bronze in the men's section while in women's part, it got one gold, three silvers and one bronze.
Beach volleyball was originated in the United States in the 1920s and the sport is widely played among ordinary people in the country. Both the United States and Brazil have developed a mature domestic tour system, setting a solid basis for the development of the sport.
China, as a new comer in beach volleyball, captured the attention of the world at the Beijing Games by earning two medals in the women's tournament.
Women's duos Tian Jia/Wang Jie and Zhang Xi/Xue Chen were awarded the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The medals were historic breakthroughs for China, whose previous best Olympic finish was ninth place, achieved by Tian and her then partner Wang Fei at the Athens Games.
Miao Zhihong, head coach of the Chinese beach volleyball team, said that in the past two years, the Chinese players have made remarkable progress through competitions at international events.
"Their abilities in various fields have been improved as a whole, the teamwork in particular, they know how to encourage each other in case of disadvantages in the match," he noted.
But Miao added: "We should learn more from the United States and Brazil. They are really strong in this sport."
FIVB president Ruben Acosta said China, which began to develop the sport just some 20 years ago, is approaching the world's top level as the country's players claimed two medals at the Beijing Olympics.
He said China's success in beach volleyball at the Beijing Olympics will promote the development of the sport in China.
"At the moment beach volleyball is not so popular in China, but through the success it will come to become a major sport in China like other sports," said the president.
He suggested Chinese players to attend more international competitions and do more training abroad to further enhance their competing level and China should also hold more FIVB World Tour events to promote the popularity of the sport in the country.
(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)