BEIJING, China, August 27, 2008.- After teaming with Todd Rogers to win the United States’ second beach volleyball gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Phil Dalhausser was named the Most Outstanding Player for the men’s competition at Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground.

As the second-seeded tandem in the 24-team men’s field, Dalhausser and Rogers matched the efforts of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh a day earlier by defeating fourth-seeded Marcio Araujo and Fabio of Brazil 23-21, 17-21 and 15-4 in a 67-minute men’s gold-medal match.

May-Treanor, who was named the women’ s Most Outstanding Player for the Chaoyang Park competition, and Walsh won the women’s gold medal for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games by defeating top-seeded Jia Tian and Jie Wang of China 21-18 and 21-18.  It was the Americans second Summer Games title after winning the Athens gold medal by beating Brazilians Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede.

The two beach volleyball gold medals for the same country in the same Olympics is a first. The two Americans teams also claimed the top podium spots at last year’s SWATCH-FIVB World Championships in Switzerland, but Brazilians had already managed that feat twice in 1997 in Los Angeles and 1999 in Marseille, France.