Smash hit

by Brian Mahoney, Associated Press Writer
Exclusive to Yahoo! Sports

August 24, 2004

ATHENS, Greece – They built a nice arena here called the Peace and Friendship Stadium to house the indoor volleyball competition.

Too bad the game they're playing at a nearby venue is threatening to make that sport an afterthought.

After all, who wants to spend time indoors when you can have so much fun outside?

The spring break portion of the Athens Olympics ended Tuesday night, August 24th, when the top-seeded team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May beat the second-seeded team of Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar 21-17, 21-11 in the women's beach volleyball final.

Walsh and May won in just 43 minutes, which was too bad. It was far too early in the evening to end the party.

The festive atmosphere at the venue, which includes blaring music, dancing and an attractive beach crowd, is one of the reasons that beach volleyball will go down as one of the stars of the Athens Games.

"Beach volleyball has been the hit of this Olympics," Walsh said.

The sport has been a natural draw in Athens, where the Games partially overlapped with vacation season. But beach volleyball has given people the best of both worlds: a chance to go to the beach and the spirit of Olympic competition at the same time.

With a disc jockey playing such traditional party tunes as "YMCA" and "Who Let the Dogs Out", it seems the only thing missing were the tequila shots.

In most sports, it's up to the players to get the crowd involved. In beach volleyball, it's vice versa.

It's easy to get fired up to play when thousands of spectators are fired up to watch.

"The crowd, we need them," Walsh said. "The energy is so electric out there, whether they're booing you or they're cheering for you, that it gets you fired up either way. I feed off it so much."

That crowd energy is what beach volleyball has that the indoor game - which felt "stale" according to bronze medal winner and former indoor player Elaine Youngs - can never match. It's the reason players like Youngs, who played indoors in the 1996 Olympics, and Walsh, who played on the 2000 indoor Olympic team, now swear by the outdoor game.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the beach game is more fun to practice as well.

"If we don't feel like training one day, we call our partner and say 'You know what? My knees hurt today. I want to take the day off. Could you train alone?'" Youngs said.

The sport is already popular around the world, but Walsh and May just might be what it needs to jump-start interest in the United States.

Women's sports in the states never really seem to take off until an American team is the best in the world during a period of high visibility. The success of the 1996 U.S. women's Olympic basketball team and the soccer team that won the Women's World Cup in 1999 helped lead to the creation of professional leagues.

Walsh and May were the best in the world long ago. They won 90 straight matches and 15 consecutive tournaments over nearly a one-year span, and they just ran through their biggest tournament with the whole world watching.

"Our sport is growing, and for Misty and I to be able to come back with gold medals and help further our sport is absolutely huge," Walsh said.

And enough people have noticed it to make it one of the most followed sports of these Games. Surprisingly, it consistently ranks among the top five viewed pages on Yahoo! Sports' Olympic website.

With all those people watching, more are certain to start playing it.

While the indoor game favors taller, stronger players, the outdoor game is open to anyone who can learn to move in the sand. The 6-foot-3 Walsh may be tall, but May hardly looks intimidating at 5-10.

"Anybody can play it. It just depends on how much you want it," May said.

Beach volleyball will leave Athens with plenty of momentum, but more needs to be done to keep it building. The sport has to prove it can draw crowds and viewers for minor events, and it needs more teams to step up as challengers to Walsh and May, who are 108-8 over the last two years.

"This sport is growing and no one's gonna stop it," Walsh said.

That certainly seems likely. After all, doesn't everyone love a good party?

Updated on Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 10:08 pm, EDT

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