Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments.
Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly is an American volleyball player, coach, and broadcast announcer. He was a central part of the U.S National Team that won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. He went on to win the gold medal again at the 1996 Olympic Games, the first Olympic competition to feature beach volleyball. He is the only player to have won Olympic medals of any color in both the indoor and beach volleyball categories. He played college volleyball for the UCLA Bruins, where his teams won three national championships under head coach Al Scates.
Larissa França Maestrini is a beach volleyball player from Brazil. She is the all-time leader of beach volleyball titles, with 57 FIVB career gold medals, including the 2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships with Juliana Felisberta and the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with Talita Antunes.
Laura Ludwig-Bowes is a German professional beach volleyball player, playing as a defender. Previously forming a pair with compatriot Kira Walkenhorst, she represents Hamburger SV and has won four European championships. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She added another medal, Gold, at the 2016 World Tour Finals in Toronto. In 2017, she and Walkenhorst won the World Championship in Vienna.
Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games as a demonstration event, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996. The United States is the only country to win medals in every edition.
April Elizabeth Ross is an American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh Jennings, and a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with Alix Klineman. Ross and Kessy were also the 2009 Beach Volleyball World Champions.
The Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International was a women's beach volleyball tournament held at Horse Guards Parade, London, between 9 and 14 August 2011. It was the beach volleyball test event for the 2012 Summer Olympics and was part of the London Prepares series. The tournament, run as an exhibition, was won by the Brazilian pair Maestrini and Vieira. 2,274 tonnes of sand was transported to the parade ground for the event. After the tournament, the sand went to several locations within London to fulfill a legacy promise. The stadium had a capacity of 1,500 spectators. The play was affected by the 2011 England riots.
Louise Bawden is an Australian volleyball and beach volleyball player. She represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in indoor volleyball, finishing in 9th. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball, but she and team-mate Becchara Palmer did not qualify from the pool stage.
Nadine Zumkehr is a Swiss beach volleyball player. As of 2012, she played with Simone Kuhn. The pair participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics tournament and were eliminated in the round of 16 by the American pair of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross who went on to win silver.
Kira Katharina Walkenhorst is a retired German beach volleyball player who played as a blocker. She has an older brother Alexander Walkenhorst who is a professional beach volleyball player and a younger sister Pia Walkenhorst who also plays beach volleyball.
Melissa Humana-Paredes is a Canadian beach volleyball player, who is partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. Humana-Paredes won the women's gold medal with Sarah Pavan at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Sarah Lindsey Pavan is a Canadian beach volleyball and former indoor volleyball player. She was part of the Canada women's national volleyball team at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. With Melissa Humana-Paredes she won the women's gold medal at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Heather Bansley is a Canadian beach volleyball player, playing as a left-side defender. She has been named FIVB Best Defensive Player of the World Tour in 2015, 2016 and 2018.
Taliqua Clancy is an Australian volleyball and beach volleyball player who represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball, partnered with Louise Bawden. She is the first Indigenous Australian volleyball player to represent Australia at the Olympics. Clancy plays as a left-side blocker.
Joana Mäder is a Swiss beach volleyball player. She played with Nadine Zumkehr in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Nicole Laird is an Australian beach volleyball player. She represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Nina Betschart is a Swiss professional beach volleyball player who plays as a right side defender with her partner Tanja Hüberli. She is a two-time European Champion, winning the title in 2021 and 2023, and the silver medallist at the 2018 and 2022 European Championships. With her former partner Nicole Eiholzer, she won the gold medal at the first ever European Games in 2015. Alongside Hüberli, Betschart has won combined total of 1 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze medals on FIVB World Tour and its successor Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Betschart / Hüberli team represented Switzerland at the 2020 Summer Olympics where they finished in ninth place and played a pivotal role at their country's triumph in the women's event of the inaugural CEV Beach Volleyball Nations Cup in 2022. They achieved a career-high World ranking of No. 2 in November 2021.
The women's beach volleyball tournament at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, took place at the Shiokaze Park. The competition was held from 24 July to 6 August 2021. It was originally scheduled to take place from 25 July to 8 August 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced on 24 March 2020 that the 2020 Summer Olympics would be delayed to 2021. Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors. Twenty-four teams with 48 athletes from around the world competed for the gold medal.
The women's tournament was held from 28 June to 7 July.
Christopher McHugh is a male beach volleyball player from Australia. He represented Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, both with teammate Damien Schumann, winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, competing at the 2020 Olympics, the pair were knocked out in the group stage after finishing at the bottom of their pool.
