Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall is a British equestrian, an Olympian, and a relative of the British royal family. She is the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips. She is a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and a niece of King Charles III. She was born 6th in the line of succession to the British throne and is now 21st.
Natalie Louise Cook is an Australian professional beach volleyball player and Olympic gold medallist. She became the first Australian woman to compete at five Olympic Games.
Annie Martin is a Canadian beach volleyball player. She has represented her country at the 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Her current playing partner is Marie-Andrée Lessard.
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.
Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor is a retired American professional beach volleyball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and as of August 2012, was the most successful female beach volleyball player having won 112 tournaments in domestic and international competition.
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.
Xue Chen is a Chinese beach volleyball player, measuring 191 centimetres in height. Her hometown is Fuzhou, but she trains in Sanya, Hainan. She has also trained in California under coach Dane Selznick. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics with Wang Xinxin.
Doris Schwaiger is a retired female beach volleyball player from Austria.
Stefanie Schwaiger is a female beach volleyball player from Austria.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012 as the host nation and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. British athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, alongside Australia, France and Greece, though Great Britain is the only one to have won at least one gold medal at all of them. London is the first city to host the Summer Olympics on three different occasions, having previously done so in 1908 and 1948. Soon, it will be joined by Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028 in hosting the Olympic Games for a third time. Team GB, organised by BOA, sent a total of 541 athletes, 279 men and 262 women, to the Games, and won automatic qualification places in all 26 sports.
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.
Imogen Bankier is a businesswoman and former badminton player from Scotland. After starting playing the sport at the age of 9, Bankier won the national championships at every age level from Under 17 upwards. The highlight of her professional career was reaching the final of the mixed doubles at the 2011 World Championships in Wembley, London. She and her partner Chris Adcock were defeated in the match by the Chinese team of Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei.
The British Volleyball Federation (BVF) is the national sports governing for volleyball participation in the UK. It is a Home Nations federation of Volleyball England, Volleyball Wales, Scottish Volleyball and Northern Ireland Volleyball. It lobbies the UK government for funding to help elite volleyball athletes compete internationally.
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.
Mhairi Spence is a British modern pentathlete. She has won a series of medals at European and World Championships, but was not selected for the 2008 Summer Olympics by the British team due to the limited number of places available. After considering retiring in 2009, she returned to the sport and in 2012 she won gold medals in both the individual and the team events at the 2012 World Championships, and qualified to be chosen for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Zara Dampney is a British beach volleyball player, and former indoor volleyball player. She was chosen as one of the two players to take the home nation qualification spot at the 2012 Summer Olympics, with teammate Shauna Mullin.
John Garcia Thompson is a British beach volleyball player.
Marta Menegatti is an Italian beach volleyball player who plays as a left-side defender with her partner Viktoria Orsi Toth. With former teammate Greta Cicolari, she achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 4 in August 2012. Her career highlights include two gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals on the FIVB World Tour. She is also the 2011 European champion and the 2013 Mediterranean Games champion, both achieved with Cicolari. Menegatti represented Italy at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing fifth and ninth respectively.
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.
Mariafe Artacho del Solar is an Australian beach volleyball player. She represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. Artacho del Solar plays as a right-side defender. According to the Women's FIVB World Rankings, she and partner Taliqua Clancy are ranked 5th as of 21 January 2020.
