Two USA beach volleyball teams open Olympic play August 14

Dain Blanton of the United States will open defense of his men's Olympic Beach Volleyball gold medal when he and Jeff Nygaard play their first of three pool matches here August 14 against Julien Prosser and Mark Williams of Australia.

The opening pool play schedule for the 2004 Olympic Games Beach Volleyball competition in Athens was announced here Wednesday by the FIVB, the international Volleyball federation, and the Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC).

"The schedule has taken into consideration the FIVB competition regulations and Beach Volleyball fans right around the world with teams playing in certain time zones to accommodate fans back home and maximize exposure," said FIVB Beach Volleyball coordinator Angelo Squeo.

Blanton, who won the Sydney 2000 Olympic Beach Volleyball title with Eric Fonoimoana, and Nygaard will play the final Pool E match of the opening day at 11 p.m. (Athens time) as the Americans will be playing on the first, third and fifth day of the 24-team competition during the preliminary phase of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Joining Blanton and Nygaard as Americans with matches on the first, third and fifth day of pool play will be the women's team of Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs, who face Susanne Glesnes and Kathrine Maaseide of Norway in their first Pool D match August 14 at 8 p.m.

Americans' Misty May and Kerri Walsh, the top-seeded women's team, will play the second, fourth and six day of the competition along with Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger, the No. 2 USA men's team. Competing in women's Pool A, May and Walsh play Japan's Chiaki Kusuhara and Ryo Tokuno at 8 p.m. August 15 after Holdren and Metzger face Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack at 4:30 p.m. in a men's Pool A match.

Also in Pool E with Blanton/Nygaard (No. 8-seeded team) and Prosser/Williams (17) are Patrick Heuscher/Stefan Kobel of Switzerland (5) and John Child/Mark Heese of Canada (20). Child and Heese were the Olympic bronze medalists in 1996 at Atlanta.

Metzger and Holdren (12) are in Pool A with Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos (1), Schacht/Slack (13) and Iver Horrem/Bjorn Maaseide of Norway (24). Emanuel and Ricardo have won 11 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour titles the past two seasons, including the 2003 FIVB World Championships where they defeated Holdren and Metzger in the finals.

May, who placed fifth in Sydney 2000 with McPeak, and Walsh headline Pool A with Eva Celbova/Sona Novakova of Czech Republic (12), Rebekka Kadijk/Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands (13) and Kusuhara/Tokuno (24).

McPeak, who also placed fifth in the Atlanta Olympics with Nancy Reno, and Youngs (4) are the featured team in Pool D with Nicole Schnyder-Benoit/Simone Kuhn of Switzerland (9), Guylaine Dumont/Annie Martin of Canada (16) and Glesnes/Maaseide (21).

The 2004 Olympic Games will be played in a stadium that holds 10,000 spectators. All matches will be on centre court where teams will play three pool matches before 16 teams in each gender advance into a single-elimination phase featuring Rounds of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals for women August 24 and men August 25.

The confirmed pool play schedule takes into consideration the results of the Drawing of Lots ceremony on July 31 and will give each team a days rest between matches and includes night sessions.

Each day in pool play will consist of three sessions featuring four matches starting on the hour. The first session starts at 9 a.m. until 12:50 p.m.; the second session runs from 2:30 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. before the final session starts at 8 p.m. to 11:50 p.m. Here is the pool play schedule for the United States teams.

USA Team's Schedule of Play -- Preliminary Rounds

Saturday, August 14 8 p.m. - McPeak/Youngs vs. Glesnes/Maaseide, Norway 11 p.m. - Blanton/Nygaard vs. Prosser/Williams, Australia

Sunday, August 15 4:30 p.m. - Holdren/Metzger vs. Schacht/Slack, Australia 8 p.m. - May/Walsh vs. Kusuhara/Tokuno, Japan

Monday, August 16 4:30 p.m. - Blanton/Nygaard vs. Child/Heese, Canada 11 p.m. - McPeak/Youngs vs. Dumont/Martin, Canada

Tuesday, August 17 8 p.m. - Holdren/Metzger vs. Horrem/Maaseide, Norway 9 p.m. - May/Walsh vs. Kadijk/Leenstra, Netherlands

Wednesday, August 18 12 p.m. - Blanton/Nygaard vs. Heuscher/Kobel, Switzerland 8 p.m. - McPeak/Youngs vs. Schnyder-Benoit/Kuhn, Switzerland

Thursday August 19 8 p.m. - Holdren/Metzger vs. Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil 9 p.m. - May/Walsh vs. Celbova/Novakova, Czech Republic

For more information on FIVB beach volleyball, go to the FIVB web site.