Spain and Austria wrap up Saturday's men's competition

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5, 2016 - #7 Seed Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera of Spain finish off the men's first day of competition against #18 seed Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl of Austria.  Adrian is playing in his fourth Olympic Games, and he and Pablo are hoping to improve on their 9th-place finish in London while Alexander and Robin are playing in their first Olympic Games.

The two teams have only one previous meeting on the FIVB World Tour with Gavira/Herrera winning a pool play match against the Austrians, 21-19 and 21-15 in 40 minutes at The Hague Grand Slam in July, 2014.

Historically the #7 seed has won three of the four first-round matches in the Olympic Games and the #18 seed won a contender's bracket second round match in Atlanta.  The #7 seed has won all three rally-scoring, pool play matches in the last three Olympics.  However the #18 seeds pulled off the upsets in Sydney (2000) with Canada's Jody Holden/Conrad Leinemann defeating Rob Heidger/Kevin Wong of the United States, 17-15 in 60 minutes and Portugal's Joao Brenha/Miguel Maia beating Argentina's Martin Conde/Eduardo Martinez 15-5 in 35 minutes at the inaugural beach volleyball competition in Atlanta (1996)

• Adrian: September 17, 1987 (28y10m20d), 193 cm (6'4"), 89 kg (198 lbs.), Hometown La Línea de la Concepción, 102nd FIVB World Tour event (ranks 67th), two gold medals, $510,625 career winnings (ranks 32nd)

• Pablo: June 29, 1982 (34y1m8d), 193 cm (6'4"), 88 kg (195 lbs.), Hometown Castellon de la Plana, 145th FIVB World Tour event, (ranks 16th), four gold medals, $661,775 career winnings (ranks 18th)

• Adrian and Pablo have been playing together since 2009. They are playing in their 82nd FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 18th), two gold medals, $949,700 career winnings (ranks 5th).  They rank second behind Poland's Fijalek/Prudel (84) for playing the most events together of the men's teams competing at the Rio Olympics.

• Adrian has played in 21 FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, five silver, eight bronze medals and six 4th place finishes.

• Pablo has played in 25 FIVB World Tour final fours with four gold, five silver, nine bronze medals and seven 4th place finishes.

• Adrian and Pablo have played in five Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Gold Moscow Grand Slam 2015, Bronze Long Beach Grand Slam 2015, Gold Xiamen Open 2016, Bronze Fuzhou Open 2016, 4th Gstaad Major 2016).

• Adrian and Pablo finished 9th in the Olympic Games in 2012 (London).

• Pablo Herrera won the silver medal in the Olympic Games with Javier Bosma in 2004 (Athens) and finished 9th with Raul Mesa in 2008 (Beijing).

• Adrian and Pablo finished 5th in the FIVB World Championships in 2009 (Stavanger), 5th in 2011 (Rome), 5th in 2013 (Stare Jablonki), and 17th in 2015 (The Hague).

• Pablo finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships with Javier Bosma in 2003 (Rio de Janeiro) and 33rd  in 2005 (Berlin) and 9th in 2007 (Gstaad), both with Raul Mesa.

• Adrian and Pablo are currently ranked 15th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,840 points and 12th in winnings with $106,375.

• Adrian and Pablo have a career 279-149 (65.2%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 70-38 (64.8%) record in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period.

• Adrian and Pablo won the gold medal at the European (CEV) Continental Championships in 2013 (Klagenfurt, Austria) along with three other gold medals and two bronze medals on the CEV Continental Tour from 2009-14.

• Adrian won the silver medal at the U21 World Championships with Alejandro Fernandez in 2007 (Modena, Italy).

• Pablo won the gold medal at the CEV Continental Championships with Raul Mesa in 2005 (Moscow, Russia) along with one other gold medal on the CEV Continental Tour with Javier Bosma in 2004 and one silver medal with Raul Mesa in 2008.

• Pablo won the silver medal at the U21 World Championships in 2001 (Le Lavandou, France) and the gold medal in 2002 (Catania, Italy), both with Raul Mesa.

• Adrian was named the FIVB World Tour Top Rookie in 2008.

• Alexander: July 25, 1985 (31y0m12d), 179 cm (5'10"), 62 kg (138 lbs.), Hometown Klagenfurt, 82nd FIVB World Tour event, $112,187 career winnings

• Robin: January 21, 1990 (26y6m16d), 190 cm (6'3"), 78 kg (173 lbs.), Hometown Velden, 62nd FIVB World Tour event, $99,137 career winnings

• Alexander and Robin have been playing together since 2009. They are playing in their 62nd FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 38th), $198,275 career winnings (ranks 95th).

• Alexander has played in three FIVB World Tour final fours with one silver medal, one bronze medal and one 4th place finish.

• Robin has played in three FIVB World Tour final fours with one silver medal, one bronze medal and one 4th place finish.

• Alexander and Robin have played in one Final Four in 2015-2016 (Silver Doha, 2016).

• Alexander and Robin finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships in 2013 (Stare Jablonki) and 33rd in 2015 (The Hague).

• Alexander finished 37th in the FIVB World Championships with Peter Gartmayer in 2009 (Stavanger).

• Alexander and Robin are currently ranked 29th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 2,390 points and 29th in winnings with $32,400.

• Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl have a career 100-117 (46.1%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 30-35 (46.2%) record in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period.

• Alexander and Robin won the silver medal at the 2014 CEV Novi Sad Masters in 2014 (Novi Sad, Serbia).