The Women's beach volleyball event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, was held at the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre located at the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex. The gold medal went to Kerri Walsh and Misty May who had a perfect record in the tournament, losing not a single set. The reigning champions from the 2000 Olympics, Natalie Cook and Kerri Ann Pottharst, both had new partners for Athens and coincidentally met at the last sixteen stage where Cook's team took the honours. Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede repeated their 2000 Olympic result, taking silver.
Natalie Louise Cook is an Australian professional beach volleyball player and Olympic gold medallist. She became the first Australian woman to compete at five Olympic Games.
Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments.
Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor is a retired American professional beach volleyball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and as of August 2012, was the most successful female beach volleyball player having won 112 tournaments in domestic and international competition.
Elaine Youngs is an American former professional volleyball player who competed both indoors and on the beach.
Sanne Keizer is a Dutch beach volleyball player who plays as a right-side defender with her partner Madelein Meppelink. Her career highlights include two gold, two silver and four bronze medals on the FIVB World Tour. She is a two-time European Champion and she represented the Netherlands at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing ninth with Marleen van Iersel.
Marleen Maria van Iersel is a Dutch professional beach volleyball player born in Breda.
Reinder Aart Nummerdor is a Dutch volleyball player who represented his native country at five consecutive Summer Olympics. Two times as a member of the indoor volleyball team in 2000 and 2004, and three more times after switching to beach volleyball.
Larissa França Maestrini is a beach volleyball player from Brazil. She is the all-time leader of beach volleyball titles, with 57 FIVB career gold medals, including the 2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships with Juliana Felisberta and the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with Talita Antunes.
Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games as a demonstration event, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996. The United States is the only country to win medals in every edition.
Xue Chen is a Chinese beach volleyball player, measuring 191 centimetres in height. Her hometown is Fuzhou, but she trains in Sanya, Hainan. She has also trained in California under coach Dane Selznick. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics with Wang Xinxin.
April Elizabeth Ross is an American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh Jennings, and a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with Alix Klineman. Ross and Kessy were also the 2009 Beach Volleyball World Champions.
Liz Masakayan is a former indoor and beach volleyball player, and is currently a coach. She participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics with the United States women's national volleyball team, and as a beach volleyball player won a total of 47 tournaments in her career.
Alexandra Rose "Alix" Klineman is an American beach volleyball, 2020 Summer Olympics gold medalist, and former indoor volleyball player.
Nicole Therese Sanderson is an Australian beach volleyball player.
Sarah Lindsey Pavan is a Canadian beach volleyball and former indoor volleyball player. She was part of the Canada women's national volleyball team at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. With Melissa Humana-Paredes she won the women's gold medal at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Lauren Fendrick is an American beach volleyball player. She competed in beach volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics with teammate Brooke Sweat. In 2017, Fendrick and new teammate April Ross placed second at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Taliqua Clancy is an Australian volleyball and beach volleyball player who represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball, partnered with Louise Bawden. She is the first Indigenous Australian volleyball player to represent Australia at the Olympics. Clancy plays as a left-side blocker.
Mariafe Artacho del Solar is an Australian beach volleyball player. She represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. Artacho del Solar plays as a right-side defender. According to the Women's FIVB World Rankings, she and partner Taliqua Clancy are ranked 5th as of 21 January 2020.
Sarah Marie Sponcil is an American volleyball player for the Grand Rapids Rise of the Pro Volleyball Federation, best known for her beach volleyball career. Sarah competed for the USA Volleyball Beach National Team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Sarah and partner Kelly Claes tied for 9th in their debut Olympics. At 24 and 25, Sponcil and Claes, respectively, were the youngest beach volleyball team to represent the USA since its inception as an Olympic sport in 1996.
