FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championship to get gladiatorial make-over in Rome

After staging a truly magnificent World Championships in 2011, Rome will welcome back the world's top teams for a Grand Slam event from June 13-17. The Italian capital hosted its first men's World Tour event in 2009 when Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann won men’s titles on the Parco del Foro Italico center court. But in 2010 the tournament was upgraded to a Grand Slam. USA's Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won, fighting off Brazil's Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego as Spanish duo Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira secured third. But Alison and Emanuel did the ultimate in 2011, clinching the World Championship title with victory over Marcia Araujo and Ricardo Santos in the final while Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann took home bronze. Rome is Italy's largest and most populous city with over 2.7-million residents. Located in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula on the Tiber river, Rome's history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilization. Even outside of the history of the Roman Empire, Rome has a significant place in the story of Christianity up to the present day as the home of the Roman Catholic Church. As one of the few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively unscathed, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character. Rome is the third-most-visited tourist destination in the European Union.

Site

Year

Gold Medal

Silver Medal

Bronze Medal

Jesi

1989

Smith/Stoklos, USA

Errichiello/Dio Lequaglie, ITA

Kiraly/Timmons, USA

Lignano

1990

Hovland/Steffes, USA

Eddo/Fallowfield, USA

Eduardo/Roberto, BRA

Cattolica

1991

Smith/Stoklos, USA

Eddo/Hanson, USA

Guilherme/Andre, BRA

Lignano

1992

Paulao/Paulo Emilio, BRA

Eduardo/Roberto, BRA

Friederichsen/Walmer, USA

Lignano

1995

Paulao/Paulo Emilio, BRA

Conde/Eduardo Martinez, ARG

Neto/Roberto, BRA

Lignano

1996

Emanuel/Ze Marco, BRA

Henkel/Smith, USA

Kvalheim/Maaseide, NOR

Lignano

1997

Conde/Martinez, ARG

Emanuel/Ze Marco, BRA

Kvalheim/Maaseide, NOR

Lignano

1998

Guilherme/Para Ferreira, BRA

Martin Laciga/Paul Laciga, SUI

Jose Loiola/Emanuel, BRA

Lignano

1999

Emanuel/Loiola, BRA

Guilherme/Para, BRA

Conde/Martinez, ARG

Lignano

2000

Ze Marco/Ricardo, BRA

M. Laciga/P. Laciga, SUI

Child/Heese, CAN

Lignano

2001

Mariano Baracetti/Conde, ARG

Loiola/Ricardo, BRA

Emanuel/Tande Ramos, BRA

Roseto

2006

Heuscher/Kobel, SUI

Emanuel/Ricardo, BRA

Benjamin/Harley, BRA

Roseto

2007

Marcio/Fabio, BRA

Emanuel/Ricardo, BRA

Barsouk/Kolodinsky, RUS

Roseto

2008

Harley/Pedro, BRA

Brink/Dieckmann, GER

Dalhausser/Rogers, USA