ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Fédération Internationale de Volleyball [email protected] Telephone +41-21 345 35 35 Saturday (June 30) is the sixth of seven days of competition for the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam, the fourth of 13 double gender events this season. The ninth annual SWATCH-FIVB World Tour stop in Stavanger started Monday (June 25) with women’s country quota playoff matches for Brazil, Germany and the United States. Competition concludes Sunday with the medal matches for men. The seventh SWATCH-FIVB World Tour stop in 2007 for both men and women is being played in the City Centre of Stavanger on Vaagen Harbour. · Women 2007 - Four country quota playoff matches were played Monday for teams from Brazil, Germany and the United States to finalize the field for the 32-team Qualification Tournament that “officially” started the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Tuesday that determined the final eight spots for the 32-team Main Draw. The “money” rounds began Wednesday and run through Saturday when the final two teams competing for the $43,500 first-place prize. · Men 2007 - Two country quota playoff matches were played Tuesday for teams from Brazil and the United States to finalize the field for Wednesday’s31-team Qualification Tournament that determined the final eight spots for the 32-team Main Draw. With the withdrawal of a team from Canada, Kentaro Asahi/Katsuhiro Shiratori won the “lucky loser” draw for a Main Draw berth. The “money” rounds started Thursday and concludes Sunday. · A total of 57 men’s and 61 women’s teams from 35 countries have competed in the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the Ukraine, the United States and Venezuela. · The ConocoPhillips Grand Slam is the second of four SWATCH grand slam events this season after teams from Brazil (Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos) and the United States (Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh) won last week’s Paris Grand Slam. · Reigning Olympic champions Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos captured the first two men’s grand slam stops in Switzerland and Norway last season by defeating 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World champions Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes in a pair of All-Brazilian finals. Marcio Araujo and Fabio won the 2006 Henkel Grand Chelem in Paris by defeating Americans Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal in the finals. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of the United States defeated Emanuel and Ricardo for the Austrian Grand Slam title. · Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca played in all four women’s grand slam finals in 2006. After losing to Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States in Switzerland, Juliana and Larissa avenged the setback by defeating the Americans in Paris. In an all-Brazilian Norwegian finale, Juliana and Larissa defeated Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede for the gold medal. In Austrian, Jia Tian and Jie Wang of China upset Juliana and Larissa in the finals. · The ConocoPhillips Grand Slam is the 156th women’s and the 198th men’s SWATCH-FIVB World Tour Beach Volleyball events (open, grand slam, Olympic and Goodwill). The first men’s SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The SWATCH-FIVB World Tour is at the start of its 21st season of international Beach Volleyball play sanctioned by the FIVB. The first women’s SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event was played August 14-16, 1992 at Almeria, Spain. The 2007 season is Year No. 16 for the women. FIVB Officials · Roberto Reggiani, Italy................Technical Supervisor · Mauro De Sanctis, Italy.................. FIVB Photographer · André Trottier, Canada.....................Referee Delegate · Tim Simmons, United States ............... Press Delegate · Marco Gonzalez, Canada ......................... TV Delegate · Periklis Charpantidis, Greece ........................... Physio Referees · Rui Carvalho, Portugal · Salvis Kurtiss, Latvia · Jose Reyes, Switzerland · Richard Casutt, New Zealand · Irene Moula, Greece · Lars Rydland, Norway · Nikoletta Chirpilidou, Greece · Elzir Oliveira, Brazil · Jonathan Salin, Sweden · Geir Dahle, Norway · Jose Marie Padron, Spain · Damien Searle, England · Bruno Frapiccini, Italy · Charalampos Papadogoulas, Greece · Jorgen Solvik, Norway · Darryl Friesen, Canada · Jonas Personeni, Switzerland · Skule Haagensen, Norway · Anton Pevc, Slovenia · STAVANGER 2007 - For the sixth-straight year, the oil capital of Norway hosts a double gender SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event. The 2007 event will be the second of four “Grand Slam” events on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour schedule. Stavanger has become a favored Beach Volleyball destination due to the fanatical support the event has enjoyed since its creation in 1999. Since the southwestern Norwegian city’s landscape has been described as varied, contrasting and inspiring, the unpredictable weather in Stavanger adds to the excitement of the event. Indeed, it is not unknown for conditions to change dramatically during a match so the athletes need to be well prepared for every possible outcome when they step out onto the sand. Fjords and mountains, sophisticated city life and a multicultural population all help to create a special atmosphere in Stavanger where the motto is simply to “enjoy life! Avenue de la Gare 12 P.O. Box, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland Page 1 of 12 FIVB Communication FAX Telephone: +41 21 345 35.45 For more Beach Volleyball news visit www.fivb.org ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Fédération Internationale de Volleyball [email protected] Telephone +41-21 345 35 35 · STAVANGER MEN - Will another country other than Brazil ever win a men’s SWTACH-FIVB World Tour event in Norway? Led by Emanuel Rego, Brazilians have been atop the Stavanger podium in each of the eight previous events with 18 overall medals. Emanuel has seven gold medals and a bronze while earning $113,150 in Stavanger prize money. Ricardo Santos has five gold medal finishes and $95,900 in Stavanger earnings. Except for the 2003 event, Brazil has captured at least two podium spots in seven of the eight men’s Stavanger events. The 2003 event saw Argentina and Australia on the Stavanger podium with 2004 Olympic Champions Emanuel and Ricardo. Norway’s top finishes are fifths by Vegard Hoidalen and Jorre Kjemperud in 2001 and 2002. PAST STAVANGER MEN’S PODIUM PLACEMENTS Medals - Brazil 18, Switzerland 3, Argentina 1, Australia 1, Germany 1 Year Gold Medal Silver Medal Bronze Medal 1999 Jose Loiola/Emanuel Rego, BRA Guilherme Marques/Para Ferreira, BRA Ze Marco de Melo/Ricardo Santos, BRA 2000 Ze Marco/Ricardo, BRA Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran, BRA Loiola/Emanuel, BRA 2001 Emanuel/Tande Ramos, BRA Martin Laciga/Paul Laciga, SUI Para/Ze Marco de, BRA 2002 Emanuel/Tande, BRA Loiola/Ricardo, BRA Stefan Kobel/Patrick Heuscher, SUI 2003 Emanuel/Ricardo, BRA Martin Conde/Mariano Baracetti, ARG Julien Prosser/Mark Williams, AUS 2004 Emanuel/Ricardo, BRA Dave Klemperer/Niklas Rademacher, GER Franco/Tande, BRA 2005 Emanuel/Ricardo, BRA Benjamin/Harley Marques, BRA Heuscher /Kobel, SUI 2006 Emanuel/Ricardo, BRA Marcio/Araujo/Fabio Magalhaes, BRA Benjamin/Harley, BRA · STAVANGER WOMEN - The southwestern Norwegian port city on the “famed” dockside courts was the site of history in 2005 when Greece’s Vassiliki Arvaniti became the youngest player (20 years, 3 months, 15 days) ever to win an “open” SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event. The mark was topped in 2006 by 17-year old Chen Xue of China when she won the Shanghai stop with Xi Zhang. Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen placed fifth in 2004 for the top finish by a Norwegian team in the four Stavanger stops. Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil have placed in the “final four” in each of their four Stavanger appearances with a silver medal in 2006 and 2002 and 2003 bronze medals. PAST STAVANGER WOMEN’S PODIUM PLACEMENTS Medals - Brazil 7, USA 5, Australia 1, China 1, Greece 1 Year Gold Medal Silver Medal Bronze Medal 2002 Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs, USA Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst, AUS Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede, BRA 2003 Ana Paula Connelly/Sandra Pires, BRA Misty May/Kerri Walsh, USA Adriana/Shelda, BRA 2004 McPeak/Youngs, USA Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan, USA Walsh/Rachel Wacholder, USA 2005 Vasso Karadassiou/ Vassiliki Arvaniti, GRE Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, BRA Tian Jia/Wang Fei, CHN 2006 Juliana/Larissa, BRA Adriana/Shelda, BRA Leila Barros/Ana Paula, BRA · The FIVB & NORWEGIAN BEACH VOLLEYBALL - Entering the 2007 season, Norway had 97 players, including 61 men and 36 women, competing in at least one FIVB-sanctioned event since the start of the international circuit in 1987 for men and 1992 for women. The performances by Jan Kvalheim and Bjorn Maaseide highlight Norway’s play on the SWATCHFIVB World Tour as the pair competed together for 10 seasons with seven gold medals, 18 podium placements and 27 “final four” finishes in 93 international starts. Kvalheim and Maaseide, who captured the 1994-95 SWATCH point’s champions and placed seventh in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, are still ranked seventh on the all-times earnings list with $778,750. Maaseide is also one of 15 players to compete in all three Beach Volleyball Olympics, including twice with Kvalheim and once with Iver Horrem. Two-time Olympians Vegard Hoidalen and Jorre Kjemperud also won a SWATCH gold medal and rank third on the FIVB list for events together (112). Kjemperud also won a 2005 Challenger event in Porto Santo with Tarjei Skarlund. Olympians Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen have been Norway's top women's team on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour with 25 top nine finishes in 65 starts to rank 18th in all-time team FIVB earnings with $315,870.