Lausanne, June 09, 2004 - The Olympic Games Beach Volleyball qualifying process has been extended after confirmation that the Spanish Men’s Open, which was originally scheduled for September, has been moved to July and turned into a double gender event.

The Mallorca event, which lifts the number of Olympic qualifying events on the Swatch-FIVB World Tour in 2004 to eight for women and 10 for men, will host a Women’s Open tournament from July 6-10 and a Men’s Open tournament from July 7-11.

Both tournaments are now the final men’s and women’s competitions in the Olympic qualifying process.

“We hope the players can benefit from this opportunity given by the FIVB and the organiser as the race for Olympic spots heats up,” FIVB President Dr. Rubén Acosta said.

“This is wonderful news that helps preserve the Swatch-FIVB World Tour calendar’s integrity after the Canadian Open, which was an Olympic qualifying event, was removed from the calendar last month,” FIVB's Beach Volleyball Coordinator Mr. Angelo Squeo said. "At that time we said we were working diligently to find a solution to preserve the integrity of the calendar and now that has been realised. We are very proud working with Mr. Lichte who has assured to stage in spite of time constraint another successful event in Spain.”

“On behalf of the Spanish Federation and Spanish Beach Volleyball I am proud to be able to say that Mallorca will be hosting an Olympic qualifying event this year,” the President of the Spanish Volleyball Federation Sr. Agustin Martin Santos said. “It is a reflection of the growing status of Spanish Beach Volleyball that we can host such an event.”

“To have the best men’s and women’s athletes playing at the same time at such a superb venue with Olympic qualification on the line makes for a wonderful spectacle. We are honoured to have been attributed the confidence of the FIVB for such an important event which will definitively help to further promote Beach Volleyball in Spain as well as the rest of the world,” Promoter Mr. Frank Lichte said. “Fans from right around the country can expect to see some great Beach Volleyball action.”

The Spanish double gender Open, which in its new format provides greater exposure for sponsors and athletes and is perfect preparation for the second Grand Slam event of the year in France, brings the overall number of tournaments on the 2004 Swatch-FIVB World Tour to 26 and with US$180,000 in prize money on offer for each gender ($360,000 in total), the overall prize money on the Swatch-FIVB World Tour increases to nearly US$5.5m.