Canada has competed at 28 Summer Olympic Games, missing only the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the boycotted 1980 Summer Olympics. This count includes the 1906 Olympic Games, deemed unofficial 43 years after they were held. The nation made its debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Canada competes under the IOC country code CAN.
Russia, referred to by its formal name; the Russian Federation, by the International Olympic Committee, has competed at the modern Olympic Games on many occasions, but as different nations in its history. As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once again competed at the Olympics, as the Soviet Union at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992, and finally returned once again as Russia at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Competitors at the Olympic Games have used banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs.
Gilberto Amauri de Godoy Filho, known as Giba, is a Brazilian former professional volleyball player who played as an outside hitter. For much of the 2000s, he was widely regarded as one of the best volleyball players in the world. During his professional career he played in Brazil, Italy, Russia, Argentina and briefly in the United Arab Emirates. He is mostly remembered for his successes with the national team.
Stefan Nimke is an Olympic and world champion track cyclist from Germany.
Reinder Aart Nummerdor is a Dutch volleyball player who represented his native country at five consecutive Summer Olympics. Two times as a member of the indoor volleyball team in 2000 and 2004, and three more times after switching to beach volleyball.
Emanuel Fernando Sheffer Rego is a Brazilian male former beach volleyball player who competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996. Rego partnered with José Loiola at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, though they did not medal. He won the gold medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, partnering with Ricardo Santos. He won the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Brazil sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in August 2008. Brazilian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1920, except the 1928 Summer Olympics. The country is represented by the Brazilian Olympic Committee. Brazil headed to the Beijing Games with its largest Olympic delegation at the time, 277 athletes, including 132 women.
Kosovo made its Olympic debut as a member state in 2016. Its team is organized by the Olympic Committee of Kosovo (OCK), created in 1992 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 9 December 2014. It won its first medal in its debut appearance in 2016, when judoka Majlinda Kelmendi took gold in the women's -52 kg category. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Nora Gjakova won gold in the women's judo -57 kg class, and Distria Krasniqi won gold in the women's judo -48 kg class.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, represented by the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia competed in all sports except baseball, field hockey, football, softball, and taekwondo. It ranked third in the medal table by the number of gold (24) and overall (60) medals. Russia also had 14 medals stripped for doping violations, the most of any nation at the 2008 Olympics, although in terms of gold medals it got a net positive of +1.
Paola Croce is an Italian volleyball player, who plays as a libero. She last played for Chateau D'Ax Urbino Volley in 2013.
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.
Mārtiņš Pļaviņš is a Latvian beach volleyball player.
Sean Michael Rosenthal is an American beach volleyball player, playing as a defender. He is best known for his high leaping ability, which has earned him the nickname of "Superman". Rosenthal has an entourage called "Rosie's Raiders", which is composed of close friends of his who enjoy going to his various tournaments to support him. He and his former partner, Jake Gibb, represented the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games and 2012 Olympic Games in beach volleyball.
Sandro Ricardo Rodrigues Viana is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Brazil.
The United States of America (USA), represented by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. U.S. athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow which they boycotted in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The USOC sent a total of 530 athletes to the Games, 262 men and 268 women, to compete in 25 sports. For the first time in its Olympic history, the United States was represented by more female than male athletes.
Brazil competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's twenty-first appearance at the Summer Olympics, having missed the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Brazilian Olympic Committee sent a total of 258 athletes to the Games, 136 men and 122 women, to compete in 24 sports. Brazil left London with a total of 17 Olympic medals, winning their third largest number of medals at a single games.
Kay Matysik is a German male beach volleyball player. He competed for Germany at the 2012 Summer Olympics with team-mate Jonathan Erdmann. They were knocked out in the last 16. The same pair won the bronze medal at the 2013 Beach Volleyball World Championships, beating former world champions Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego in the bronze medal match.
Daniele Lupo is an Italian beach volleyball player. He competed for Italy at the 2016 Summer Olympics and at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Along with partner, Paolo Nicolai, he won the silver medal in men's beach volleyball in 2016. He was the flag bearer for Italy during the closing ceremony.
