Europe to have 26 beach volleyball teams at the Paris Olympics

Europe is set to send 26 beach volleyball teams to compete at the Paris Games in just under two months as the list of duos qualified via the FIVB Olympics Rankings was made official on Tuesday.

With 13 teams in each gender set to compete at the feet of the Eiffel Tower, the continent will have its third-largest representation at the Games, just behind London 2012, when 28 teams (15 men, 13 women) played, and Beijing 2008, when 27 duos (15 men, 12 women) made the trip to China.

Europe qualified 11 women’s duos via the Olympic Rankings and still has one additional spot for host country France. On the men’s side, ten places were awarded via the Rankings, with France also having a host country spot and Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner earning their berth with their victory at last year’s World Championship.

The final opportunity for European teams to qualify for Paris 2024 will be this week’s CEV 2024 Beach Nations Cup Finals, in Jurmala, Latvia, where one berth per gender will be in play.

Currently, 13 European nations are confirmed in the Paris Games, including Lithuania, which is set to make its Olympic debut in beach volleyball after the qualification of Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte.

Six European countries have filled the maximum quota of two teams per gender at Paris 2024 – France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland among the women and Italy and the Netherlands on the men’s side.

With four teams still to be determined (the two selected by host country France and the ones qualifying at this week’s Beach Nations Cup Finals), the European delegation currently has 22 Olympic veterans and 22 rookies.

41-year-old Spanish Pablo Herrera is set to make history in the sport in Paris, where he’ll become the first beach volleyball player to appear in six Olympic editions – he first played in Athens 2004. It will also be his fourth time at the Games with 36-year-old partner Adrián Gavira, which is also a record.

Other players with plenty of Olympic experience on the men’s side will be 35-year-old Italian Paolo Nicolai, who will make his fourth appearance, having first played in London 2012, and 41-year-old Austrian Alexander Horst, who will also get to four, having made his debut in Beijing 2008, but missing Tokyo 2020.

German superstar Laura Ludwig (38) will make her fifth Olympic appearance this year and will tie Australia’s Natalie Cook as the woman with the most participation. Spanish Liliana Fernández (37) and Italian Marta Menegatti (33) will both be at the Games for a fourth straight time.

The European beach volleyball delegation will also include five Olympic medalists, four of which are on the men’s side – Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sørum (gold in Tokyo 2020), Nicolai (silver in Rio 2016) and Herrera (silver in Athens 2004). An Olympic champion at the Rio 2016 Games, Ludwig is the only European woman to have made it to the podium at the Games who qualified for Paris 2024.

European teams at Paris 2024

Men

FIVB Olympic Rankings

1 - David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig (Sweden) – 13,160

2 - Anders Mol/Christian Sørum (Norway) – 11,360

3 - Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler (Germany) – 10,500

6 - Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot (the Netherlands) – 9,820

8 - Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava (Italy) – 9,240

9 - Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak (Poland) – 9,200

10 - Matthew Immers/Steven van de Velde (the Netherlands) – 9,180

13 - Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira (Spain) – 8,080

14 - Alex Ranghieri/Adrian Carambula (Italy) – 7,840

17 - Julian Hörl/Alexander Horst (Austria) – 7,260

FIVB World Championship

Ondre Perusic/David Schweiner (Czechia)

Host Country

France – team to be confirmed

Women

FIVB Olympic Rankings

5 - Raisa Schoon/Katja Stam (the Netherlands) – 10,380

6 - Tanja Hüberli/Nina Brunner (Switzerland) – 10,160

7 - Tina Graudina/Anastasija Samoilova (Latvia) – 9,560

9 - Marta Menegatti/Valentina Gottardi (Italy) – 9,140

10 - Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann (Germany) – 8,920

12 - Zoé Vergé-Dépré/Esmée Böbner (Switzerland) – 7,900

13 - Daniela Álvarez/Tania Moreno (Spain) – 7,820

14 - Laura Ludwig/Louisa Lippmann (Germany) – 7,720

15 - Lézana Placette/Alexia Richard (France) – 6,920

16 - Monika Paulikiene/Aine Raupelyte (Lithuania) – 6,900

17 - Liliana Fernández/Paula Soria (Spain) – 6,800

Host Country

France – team to be confirmed