Beach volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

Men's beach volleyball
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Men's beach volleyball; at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	Horse Guards Parade
Dates	28 July – 9 August
Competitors	48 from 19 nations
Medalists
	← 2008 2016 →

Last updated December 20, 2025

The men's beach volleyball tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom, took place between 28 July and 9 August at Horse Guards Parade.^[1]

Twenty-four pairs were competing, including one from Great Britain as the host country, and a maximum of two from each nation. Sixteen qualified through positioning in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings as of 17 June 2012, five others earned their places at the 2010–12 Continental Beach Volleyball Cup, and the final three from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Olympic Qualification tournament.^[2]

Seeds

Rank	Team	NOC
1	Alison Cerutti – Emanuel Rego	Brazil
2	Phil Dalhausser – Todd Rogers	United States
3	Julius Brink – Jonas Reckermann	Germany
4	Jake Gibb – Sean Rosenthal	United States
5	Reinder Nummerdor – Richard Schuil	Netherlands
6	John Garcia Thompson – Steve Grotowski	Great Britain
7	Pedro Cunha – Ricardo Santos	Brazil
8	Jonathan Erdmann – Kay Matysik	Germany
9	Grzegorz Fijałek – Mariusz Prudel	Poland
10	Wu Penggen – Xu Linyin	China
11	Adrián Gavira – Pablo Herrera	Spain
12	Jefferson Bellaguarda – Patrick Heuscher	Switzerland
13	Daniele Lupo – Paolo Nicolai	Italy
14	Petr Beneš – Přemysl Kubala	Czech Republic
15	Sébastien Chevallier – Sascha Heyer	Switzerland
16	Aleksandrs Samoilovs – Ruslans Sorokins	Latvia
17	Mārtiņš Pļaviņš – Jānis Šmēdiņš	Latvia
18	Tarjei Skarlund – Martin Spinnangr	Norway
19	Josh Binstock – Martin Reader	Canada
20	Igor Hernández – Jesus Villafañe	Venezuela
21	Freedom Chiya – Grant Goldschmidt	South Africa
22	Sergey Prokopiev – Konstantin Semenov	Russia
23	Kentaro Asahi – Katsuhiro Shiratori	Japan
24	Clemens Doppler – Alexander Horst	Austria

Preliminary round

The composition of the preliminary rounds was announced confirmed on 19 July 2012 in a draw held in Klagenfurt, Austria.^[3]

Teams are awarded two points for a win and one for a loss.^[4] If two teams are tied at the end of pool play, the tiebreakers is their head-to-head match.^[4] If two teams are tied at the end of pool play, the tiebreakers is their head-to-head match.^[4] If three or more teams are tied, the tiebreakers are (1) points ratio between tied teams, (2) points ratio within pool, and (3) tournament seed.^[4] The two best teams from each group directly advance to the round-of-16. The two best 3rd-placed teams also advance. The remaining four third-placed teams play one another in two Lucky Loser matches, and the two winners complete the list of 16 playoff teams.^[5]

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00).

Pool A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	3	3	0	6	6	1	6.000	145	123	1.179	Round of 16
2	Bellaguarda – Heuscher (SUI)	3	1	2	4	2	4	0.500	111	118	0.941	Round of 16
3	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	3	1	2	4	2	4	0.500	119	126	0.944	3rd place/Lucky Loser playoffs
4	Doppler – Horst (AUT)	3	1	2	4	3	4	0.750	128	136	0.941	Eliminated

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

29 July 2012 11:00	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	2–1	Doppler – Horst (AUT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(19–21, 21–17, 16–14) Report

29 July 2012 23:00	Bellaguarda – Heuscher (SUI)	0–2	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(19–21, 18–21) Report

31 July 2012 10:00	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	2–0	Bellaguarda – Heuscher (SUI)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–17, 21–12) Report

31 July 2012 22:00	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	0–2	Doppler – Horst (AUT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(18–21, 17–21) Report

2 August 2012 10:00	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	2–0	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(26–24, 21–18) Report

2 August 2012 20:00	Bellaguarda – Heuscher (SUI)	2–0	Doppler – Horst (AUT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(24–22, 21–12) Report

Pool B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Dalhausser – Rogers (USA)	3	3	0	6	6	1	6.000	139	109	1.275	Round of 16
2	Gavira – Herrera (ESP)	3	2	1	5	5	2	2.500	139	133	1.045	Round of 16
3	Beneš – Kubala (CZE)	3	1	2	4	2	5	0.400	120	128	0.938	3rd place/Lucky Loser playoffs
4	Asahi – Shiratori (JPN)	3	0	3	3	1	6	0.167	110	138	0.797	Eliminated

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

29 July 2012 10:00	Gavira – Herrera (ESP)	2–0	Beneš – Kubala (CZE)	Horse Guards Parade
	(25–23, 21–16) Report

29 July 2012 22:00	Dalhausser – Rogers (USA)	2–0	Asahi – Shiratori (JPN)	Horse Guards Parade Referees: Damien Searle(GBR), Richard Casutt(NZL) ^[6]
	(21–15, 21–16) Report

31 July 2012 09:00	Beneš – Kubala (CZE)	2–1	Asahi – Shiratori (JPN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(17–21, 21–12, 15–7) Report

31 July 2012 21:00	Dalhausser – Rogers (USA)	2–1	Gavira – Herrera (ESP)	Horse Guards Parade
	(19–21, 21–16, 15–13) Report

2 August 2012 14:30	Gavira – Herrera (ESP)	2–0	Asahi – Shiratori (JPN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–19, 22–20) Report

2 August 2012 21:00	Dalhausser – Rogers (USA)	2–0	Beneš – Kubala (CZE)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–13, 21–15) Report

Pool C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	3	3	0	6	6	1	6.000	133	114	1.167	Round of 16
2	Chevallier – Heyer (SUI)	3	2	1	5	4	4	1.000	145	151	0.960
3	Prokopiev – Semenov (RUS)	3	1	2	4	3	5	0.600	157	163	0.963
4	Wu – Xu (CHN)	3	0	3	3	3	6	0.500	157	164	0.957	Eliminated

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

28 July 2012 12:00	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	2–0	Prokopiev – Semenov (RUS)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–19, 21–17) Report

28 July 2012 14:30	Wu – Xu (CHN)	1–2	Chevallier – Heyer (SUI)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–18, 16–21, 12–15) Report

30 July 2012 14:30	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	2–1	Wu – Xu (CHN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(13–21, 21–19, 15–8) Report

30 July 2012 20:00	Chevallier – Heyer (SUI)	2–1	Prokopiev – Semenov (RUS)	Horse Guards Parade
	(28–26, 18–21, 15–13) Report

1 August 2012 11:00	Wu – Xu (CHN)	1–2	Prokopiev – Semenov (RUS)	Horse Guards Parade
	(27–29, 21–17, 12–15) Report

1 August 2012 21:00	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	2–0	Chevallier – Heyer (SUI)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–14, 21–16) Report

Pool D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA)	3	2	1	5	4	2	2.000	119	89	1.337	Round of 16
2	Fijałek – Prudel (POL)	3	2	1	5	5	2	2.500	132	115	1.148
3	Samoilovs – Sorokins (LAT)	3	2	1	5	4	3	1.333	116	113	1.027
4	Chiya – Goldschmidt (RSA)	3	0	3	3	0	6	0.000	76	126	0.603	Eliminated

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

28 July 2012 11:00	Fijałek – Prudel (POL)	1–2	Samoilovs – Sorokins (LAT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–12, 15–21, 12–15) Report

28 July 2012 22:00	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA)	2–0	Chiya – Goldschmidt (RSA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–10, 21–11) Report

30 July 2012 12:00	Samoilovs – Sorokins (LAT)	2–0	Chiya – Goldschmidt (RSA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–13, 21–10) Report

30 July 2012 21:00	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA)	0–2	Fijałek – Prudel (POL)	Horse Guards Parade
	(17–21, 18–21) Report

1 August 2012 12:00	Fijałek – Prudel (POL)	2–0	Chiya – Goldschmidt (RSA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–19, 21–13) Report

1 August 2012 16:30	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA)	2–0	Samoilovs – Sorokins (LAT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–10, 21–16) Report

Pool E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	3	3	0	6	6	1	6.000	141	113	1.248	Round of 16
2	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	3	2	1	5	4	3	1.333	127	116	1.095	Round of 16
3	Erdmann – Matysik (GER)	3	1	2	4	3	5	0.600	132	148	0.892	3rd place/Lucky Loser playoffs
4	Hernández – Villafañe (VEN)	3	0	3	3	2	6	0.333	128	151	0.848	Eliminated

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

29 July 2012 14:30	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	2–1	Hernández – Villafañe (VEN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–18, 17–21, 15–10) Report

29 July 2012 15:30	Erdmann – Matysik (GER)	1–2	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–19, 21–23, 9–15) Report

31 July 2012 14:30	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	2–0	Hernández – Villafañe (VEN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–14, 21–16) Report

31 July 2012 15:30	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	2–0	Erdmann – Matysik (GER)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–9, 21–16) Report

2 August 2012 09:00	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	0–2	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(14–21, 18–21) Report

2 August 2012 15:30	Erdmann – Matysik (GER)	2–1	Hernández – Villafañe (VEN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(20–22, 21–16, 15–11) Report

Pool F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Ricardo – Cunha (BRA)	3	3	0	6	6	0	MAX	129	101	1.277	Round of 16
2	Skarlund – Spinnangr (NOR)	3	2	1	5	4	2	2.000	117	107	1.093	Round of 16
3	Binstock – Reader (CAN)	3	1	2	4	2	4	0.500	114	119	0.958	3rd place/Lucky Loser playoffs
4	Garcia Thompson – Grotowski (GBR)	3	0	3	3	0	6	0.000	94	127	0.740	Eliminated

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

28 July 2012 16:30	Garcia Thompson – Grotowski (GBR)	0–2	Binstock – Reader (CAN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(19–21, 13–21) Report

28 July 2012 20:00	Ricardo – Cunha (BRA)	2–0	Skarlund – Spinnangr (NOR)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–14, 21–18) Report

30 July 2012 11:00	Skarlund – Spinnangr (NOR)	2–0	Binstock – Reader (CAN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–14, 21–18) Report

30 July 2012 17:30	Garcia Thompson – Grotowski (GBR)	0–2	Ricardo – Cunha (BRA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(17–21, 12–21) Report

1 August 2012 17:30	Garcia Thompson – Grotowski (GBR)	0–2	Skarlund – Spinnangr (NOR)	Horse Guards Parade
	(20–22, 13–21) Report

1 August 2012 20:00	Ricardo – Cunha (BRA)	2–0	Binstock – Reader (CAN)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–18, 24–22) Report

Lucky loser

Of the 6 teams that are placed third in their pools, two directly qualify for the playoffs. From the four remaining third placed teams, another two teams qualify for the playoffs by winning a Lucky Loser match.

This table shows the results of the third placed teams after the pool play, and before the Lucky Loser matches.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Samoilovs – Sorokins (LAT)	3	2	1	5	4	3	1.333	116	113	1.027	Round of 16
2	Prokopiev – Semenov (RUS)	3	1	2	4	3	5	0.600	157	163	0.963	Round of 16
3	Erdmann – Matysik (GER)	3	1	2	4	3	5	0.600	132	148	0.892	Lucky loser play-offs
4	Binstock – Reader (CAN)	3	1	2	4	2	4	0.500	114	119	0.958
5	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	3	1	2	4	2	4	0.500	119	126	0.944
6	Beneš – Kubala (CZE)	3	1	2	4	2	5	0.400	120	128	0.938

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Lucky loser play-offs

2 August 2012 23:00	Binstock – Reader (CAN)	0–2	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(16–21, 20–22) Report

2 August 2012 23:00	Erdmann – Matysik (GER)	2–1	Beneš – Kubala (CZE)	Horse Guards Parade
	(15–21, 21–19, 15–13) Report

Playoffs

Round of 16

3 August 2012 10:00	Fijałek – Prudel (POL)	2–0	Chevallier – Heyer (SUI)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–18, 21–17) Report

3 August 2012 13:00	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	2–0	Skarlund – Spinnangr (NOR)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–18, 21–16) Report

3 August 2012 18:00	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	2–0	Dalhausser – Rogers (USA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–17, 21–19) Report

3 August 2012 21:00	Gavira – Herrera (ESP)	0–2	Ricardo – Cunha (BRA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(18–21, 19–21) Report

4 August 2012 10:00	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	2–0	Erdmann – Matysik (GER)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–16, 21–14) Report

4 August 2012 14:00	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	2–0	Bellaguarda – Heuscher (SUI)	Horse Guards Parade
	(22–20, 21–15) Report

4 August 2012 17:00	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	2–0	Samoilovs – Sorokins (LAT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–12, 21–17) Report

4 August 2012 22:00	Prokopiev – Semenov (RUS)	0–2	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(14–21, 20–22) Report

Finals overview

Quarter-finals					Semi-finals				Final

1	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	21	16	17

9	Fijałek – Prudel (POL)	17	21	15
					1	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	21	22

					17	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	15	20
17	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	19	21	15

4	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA)	21	18	11
									1	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	21	21	14

									3	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	23	16	16
3	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	21	21

7	Ricardo – Cunha (BRA)	15	19
					3	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	21	21	Bronze medal match

					5	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	14	16
5	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	21	21						17	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	19	21	15

13	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	16	18						5	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	21	19	11

Quarter-finals

6 August 2012 18:00	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	2–1	Fijałek – Prudel (POL)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–17, 16–21, 17–15) Report

6 August 2012 19:00	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	2–1	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(19–21, 21–18, 15–11) Report

6 August 2012 22:00	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	2–0	Ricardo – Cunha (BRA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–15, 21–19) Report

6 August 2012 23:00	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	2–0	Lupo – Nicolai (ITA)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–16, 21–18) Report

Semi-finals

7 August 2012 17:00	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	2–0	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–15, 22–20) Report

7 August 2012 23:00	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	2–0	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–14, 21–16) Report

Bronze medal match

9 August 2012 19:00	Pļaviņš – Šmēdiņš (LAT)	2–1	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED)	Horse Guards Parade
	(19–21, 21–19, 15–11) Report

Final

9 August 2012 21:00	Alison – Emanuel (BRA)	1–2	Brink – Reckermann (GER)	Horse Guards Parade
	(21–23, 21–16, 14–16) Report

Final ranking

Rank	Team	Seed
	Julius Brink – Jonas Reckermann (GER)	3
	Alison Cerutti – Emanuel Rego (BRA)	1
	Mārtiņš Pļaviņš – Jānis Šmēdiņš (LAT)	17
4.	Reinder Nummerdor – Richard Schuil (NED)	5
5.	Jake Gibb – Sean Rosenthal (USA)	4
	Ricardo Santos – Pedro Cunha (BRA)	7
	Grzegorz Fijałek – Mariusz Prudel (POL)	9
	Daniele Lupo – Paolo Nicolai (ITA)	13
9.	Phil Dalhausser – Todd Rogers (USA)	2
	Jonathan Erdmann – Kay Matysik (GER)	8
	Adrián Gavira – Pablo Herrera (ESP)	11
	Jefferson Bellaguarda – Patrick Heuscher (SUI)	12
	Sébastien Chevallier – Sascha Heyer (SUI)	15
	Aleksandrs Samoilovs – Ruslans Sorokins (LAT)	16
	Tarjei Skarlund – Martin Spinnangr (NOR)	18
	Sergey Prokopiev – Konstantin Semenov (RUS)	22
17.	Petr Beneš – Přemysl Kubala (CZE)	14
17.	Josh Binstock – Martin Reader (CAN)	19
19.	John Garcia Thompson – Steve Grotowski (GBR)	6
	Wu Penggen – Xu Linyin (CHN)	10
	Igor Hernández – Jesus Villafañe (VEN)	20
	Freedom Chiya – Grant Goldschmidt (RSA)	21
	Kentaro Asahi – Katsuhiro Shiratori (JPN)	23
	Clemens Doppler – Alexander Horst (AUT)	24

References

↑ Beach volleyball venues. Spectators
↑ Olympic Qualifying process confirmed for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, FIVB, 17 May 2010.
↑ Olympic beach volleyball pool draw completed in Klagenfurt, FIVB, 19 July 2012.
1 2 3 4 "London 2012 Olympic Games Beach Volleyball Media Guide". FIVB. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
↑ Olympic Games beach volleyball schedule confirmed, FIVB, 20 July 2012.
↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgHtvdsROf4&list=TLPQMTgxMjIwMjVl8FE3A0A5MA&index=2

External links

Official website of the 2012 Olympic beach volleyball tournaments

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Beach volleyball venues. Spectators

[2] Olympic Qualifying process confirmed for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, FIVB, 17 May 2010.

[3] Olympic beach volleyball pool draw completed in Klagenfurt, FIVB, 19 July 2012.

[points_and_tiebreakers-4] 1 2 3 4 "London 2012 Olympic Games Beach Volleyball Media Guide". FIVB. Retrieved 30 September 2020.

[5] Olympic Games beach volleyball schedule confirmed, FIVB, 20 July 2012.

[6] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgHtvdsROf4&list=TLPQMTgxMjIwMjVl8FE3A0A5MA&index=2

[1]

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[6]

Volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Indoor
Tournament	men	women
Rosters	men	women
Beach
Tournament	men	women
v t e

Beach volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

Contents

Seeds

Preliminary round

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Pool E

Pool F

Lucky loser

Lucky loser play-offs

Playoffs

Round of 16

Finals overview

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Bronze medal match

Final

Final ranking

See also

References

External links

v t e Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics
	1896–1992 1996 men women 2000 men women 2004 men women 2008 men women 2012 men women 2016 men women 2020 men women 2024 men women
List of medalists List of venues