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First-ever Olympic beach volleyball medal winners
- Updated: July 27, 2016
Lausanne, Switzerland, July 27, 2016 – When someone asks which country won the first-ever beach volleyball medal at the Olympics 20 years ago today, the usual answer is Brazil or the United States.
Well, Brazil did win two medals at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Games when beach volleyball was initially played in the Olympics as the July 27 finale featured two women’s teams from the South American country. However, the first medal winners were Natalie Cook and Kerri Ann Pottharst as the Australians captured the third spot on the Atlanta podium.
Before Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva won the gold medal by defeating Brazilian rivals Monica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel 12-11, 12-6 in 69 minutes, Cook and Pottharst upset Americans Linda Hanley and Barbra Fontana 12-11, 12-7 in a bronze medal match that lasted nearly two hours.
Atlanta 1996 Olympic medal winners (left to right) Jackie, Sandra, Monica and Adriana
The two matches were played several hours after a pipe bomb in a backpack exploded in Centennial Olympic Park at around 01:25, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 people. The happening created intense security concerns throughout the Atlanta-area and the referees assigned to work the women’s medal matches arrived only minutes prior to the third-place contest between Australia and the United States.
As noted recently on the ESPN.com, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics marked a change in women’s sports that extended far beyond the usual milestones. It was written that “female athletes were also being marketed like never before. After the Games, Sports Illustrated and Condé Nast started their own women’s sports magazines and four domestic pro leagues launched (fast-pitch softball, soccer and two for basketball). Not all of them survived, but women’s sports had clearly arrived.”
The beach volleyball competition at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games featured an 18-team field playing in a double-elimination bracket format on two courts at Clayton County International Park in Jonesboro, Georgia. The three medal winning teams were clearly the dominate pairs at the event as the Americans faltered after being favored to claim at least one podium spot.
Combined with the bombing, Michael Mayo wrote “it was an imperfect ending to a disappointing week for American women, who came into the tournament with high hopes on their home turf. They left with the …
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