Dalhausser & Rogers snare second USA Olympic Beach Volleyball gold medal

Beijing, China, August 22, 2008 - Awarded by Dr. Rubén Acosta, President of the FIVB, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers earned the United States another Beach Volleyball gold medal here Friday at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as the Americans out-lasted Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes of Brazil for the top spot on the men’s podium at the 12,200-seat Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground.

After being seeded second in the competition with the host country team of Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu being awarded the top spot, Dalhausser and Rogers became the third American men’s team to capture an Olympic Beach Volleyball title by defeating the fourth-seeded Marcio Araujo and Fabio 23-21, 17-21 and 15-4 in 67 minutes.

 

Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana upset Ze Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos for the Sydney 2000 title.  At the inaugural men’s Olympic Beach Volleyball competition in 1996 at Atlanta, Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won the All-American gold medal finale by defeating Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh. 

 

A day earlier during a steady rain storm at Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground, second-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the women’s gold medal for Beach Volleyball at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games by defeating top-seeded Jia Tian and Jie Wang of China 21-18 and 21-18.

The two Beach Volleyball gold medals for the same country in the same Olympics is a first.