Beach Volleyball

Olympic Beach Volleyball

Olympic beach volleyball is a team sport played on a rectangular court of sand and with two team players rather than six, as in indoor volleyball. It is among the newer of Olympic sports, having become an official event in 1996. To date, the only countries to have claimed gold medals in the sport are Brazil, USA, and Australia, with each country winning a gold medal once in the women’s tournament. There are other less obvious differences between indoor and beach volleyball other than the composition of the court. For instance, beach volleyball players use hand signals behind their backs to relay what moves they will make to their teammates, creating interesting play dynamics for viewers.

Women’s Beach Volleyball

Concerning women’s beach volleyball, there remains controversy over the sexuality of the uniforms, resulting in size specifications of uniforms and heated arguments between countries (particularly the more conservative nations of Islam and South-East Asia) that beach volleyball does not deserve to be considered an Olympic event. Critics see the bikini- style uniforms as distasteful; whereas, women players argue that the uniforms are very suited to the sport and allow them the most freedom and flexibility from material that is advantageous in volleyball. Others propose that assimilating bikini-style uniforms into men’s beach volleyball attire would equalize the subject of sex and make the practicality of the uniforms more clear.

Beach Volleyball Babes

Many female professional volleyball players attract a lot of public attention, possibly due to their extraordinary volleyball talent and their controversial bikinis. The appearance of the beach volleyball tournaments on television is a much awaited event for many men and women fans. The female beach volleyball player is no doubt a certain sex symbol, among the broader category of the female athlete, even inspiring a line of video games that feature sexy computer-generated characters playing volleyball. The typical woman beach volleyball player is tan and has an athletic build with very defined musculature around the abs, upper thighs and arms, which is shown off by the scantiness of the bikini. Men may also find the physical encouragement of players for their teammates arousing. In the 2004 Olympics, an incident with bright orange bikini-clad dancers entertaining the crowd offended some of the female players. Why there is still debate about the tastefulness of the uniforms is somewhat puzzling, when it is clear that the female players do not wear them for the purpose of attracting men and obviously take the sport very seriously.