Beach Volleyball

Sport Overview

Beach Volleyball at Los Angeles 2028

Venue: Alamitos Beach Stadium

Competition Dates: July 15-29 (Days 1-15)

Events: 2 (1 men, 1 women)

Beach volleyball takes the complexity of the indoor game and adds the difficulty of playing in sand, as well as having to rely on only one teammate, to hit the ball onto the ground in the opponent’s court. The first recorded game of beach volleyball took place at the Outrigger Canoe Club on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii in 1915. The two-player version of beach volleyball originated in Santa Monica, California in 1920.

A beach volleyball court measures 16m x 8m and is divided in half by a net that has a height of 2.43m for men and 2.24m for women.

All matches are a best-of-three sets. The first two sets go to 21 points, with a winning margin of two points, while a third and deciding set goes to 15 points, with a winning margin of two points. Teams can score a point by winning a rally, regardless of who served.

Both the men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments begin with the 24 two-player teams divided into six pools for a preliminary round robin within each pool. The winning team in a match receives two points in the standings while the losing team receives one point.

The top two teams in each pool advance to a Round of 16, along with the two best third place teams. The remaining third place teams play off in a lucky loser round to determine the final two places in the Round of 16. At this point, the tournaments become single elimination brackets, narrowing down to the semifinal winners who play for gold and silver while the semifinal losers play for bronze.

Canada’s Olympic Beach Volleyball History (Pre-LA 2028)

Canada’s best ever Olympic beach volleyball result was recorded at Paris 2024 where Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson claimed silver, becoming the first Canadian women to win an Olympic beach volleyball medal. They had gotten into the knockout round as lucky losers before reeling off a string of victories to reach the podium. Both had reached quarterfinals with different partners at Tokyo 2020, which was previously the farthest that a Canadian women’s team had advanced at the Olympic Games.

Canada’s Best Ever Olympic Beach Volleyball Results by Event

Canada’s first Olympic beach volleyball medal came during the sport’s Olympic debut at Atlanta 1996 when John Child and Mark Heese defeated Portugal’s Joao Brenha and Miguel Maia 2-0 to claim bronze.