Athens, August 8th 2004 - FIVB President Dr. Ruben Acosta today in Athens predicted the best ever Volleyball and Beach Volleyball Olympic tournaments and congratulated the Athens Organising Committee for the excellent facilities and preparations. These will be the eleventh Olympic Volleyball and third Beach Volleyball tournaments.

"The FIVB has organised its sports worldwide so that Olympic qualification is secured through our own top international competitions such as the Volleyball World Cups, the Beach Volleyball World Championships and Swatch-FIVB World Tours, all of which offer significant prize money, as well as the Volleyball Olympic qualification tournaments.

"The men's and women's World Champions in both indoor Volleyball and Beach Volleyball will all be participating in the Olympic tournaments this year. In our professional sport we are proud that the Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are the ultimate prize for our top players," he added.

"This has also enabled us to continue to raise the standard between each Olympic Games, bring new players, supporters, commercial partners and media into the sport each year and offer increased prize money at the FIVB's top professional tournaments."

Dr Acosta added: "Volleyball and Beach Volleyball win new converts every Olympic Games, and it is appropriate that the Olympic organisers offer such excellent facilities for our best players to showcase our spectacular and exciting sports."

The FIVB is the world governing body for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball and now has 218 affiliated National Federations and 35 million registered players.