The Rio 2016 Copacabana Arena was one of the highlights of the Olympic Games
Lausanne, Switzerland, September 6, 2016 – A month ago today the world was tuning in to watch the start of the beach volleyball at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games and now fans of the sport can relive the highlights from Copacabana thanks to the
Olympic Channel.
Italy’s Adrian Carambula had the honour of the first serve at the Copacabana Beach Arena and he and Alex Ranghieri finished the opening match victorious over Austria’s Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst.
From then on beach volleyball firmly established itself as one of the most in demand sports at Rio 2016, with fans flocking to the unique beach-side location to sample the red-hot atmosphere and thrilling on-court action.
After 16 days of action two new sets of Olympic champions were crowned. Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst became the first European women’s team to finish on an Olympic podium when they defeated Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas in the gold medal match.
A day later and Brazil’s Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt removed all doubt as to whether they are currently the best side in the world as they beat Italy’s Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai to add the Olympic title to the 2015 World Championships gold and the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour title.
As well as the medallists there are some of the stories that the international media covered.
Cuba’s Sergio Gonzalez and Nivaldo Diaz caught the imagination of the crowd as they narrowly missed out on a place in the semifinals, despite not competing on the World Tour like their Olympic rivals.
Egypt’s Doaa Elghobashy and Nada Meawad established new ground as they became the first women from a Muslim to compete at an Olympic Games beach volleyball competition.
There is also the chance to learn more about the sport and the chance to find out about its role and history in the Olympic movement.