Barcelona, Spain, June 1, 2008 - With a capacity crowd of more than 3,000 watching on the steps in front of the National Museum of Art of Catalunya at the Placa Carles Buigas, Germany's Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann captured the men's gold medal here Sunday at the US$350,000 Hyundai Open Barcelona.

Seeded second in the competition, Brink and Dieckmann claimed their third SWATCH FIVB World Tour title by scoring a 22-20, 13-21 and 16-14 victory in 63 minutes over fourth-seeded Igor Kolodinsky and Dmitri Barsouk of Russia.  With the win, the Germans split the $28,000 first-place prize while the Russians shared $19,500.

"It was Julius' serving and our experience in SWATCH title matches that made the difference today," said the 32-year old Dieckmann, who was winning his fifth FIVB gold medal while Brink was collecting his fourth title.  "The Russians are a very strong team and we must be alert for every point due to Igor's ability.  His service game is awesome and it got them back into the match in the third set today."

The Germans took an early lead in the deciding set and held a 12-9 advantage before Kolodinsky scored points on three-straight serves to tie the match at 12-12.  Brink, who was named the SWATCH most outstanding player for the inaugural Hyundai Open Barcelona, took over with a strong service game as the Germans scored the final two points of the match after being tied 14-14.

The Hyundai Open Barcelona was the first all-European finale of the season and the first in nearly a year on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since Kristjan Kais and Rivo Vesik of Estonia defeated Patrick Heuscher and Sascha Heyer of Switzerland for the Croatian gold medal with Barsouk and Kolodinsky placing third last June in Zagreb.

With the Hyundai Open Barcelona being the 214th SWATCH FIVB World Tour men's event since the start of the international Beach Volleyball circuit in 1987, Sunday's finale was only the ninth all-European finale, including one all-German title match in 2005 when Brink and Kjell Schneider defeated Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann for a Portuguese gold medal in Espinho.

"It was like playing for the European championship," said Dieckmann, who is four minutes younger than his twin brother (Markus).  "It shows that the European teams are very competitive and can match their abilities with any of the teams in the world.  In the early days of the tour, it was usually the teams from the Americans that were strong with a few top-ranked European tandems."

Led by Brazil with 140 men's SWATCH titles since 1987, teams from the Americas have captured 181 gold medals with four crowns this season.  With one title for an Australia team, Europeans have won the other 33 gold medals led by Switzerland (nine championships), Germany (8) and Norway (8).

Four European teams are currently ranked among the top seven on the qualifying list for the Beijing 2008 Olympics with two Beach Volleyball pairs from Brazil in the first two spots along with tandems from China and the United States.

Barsouk and Kolodinsky are third with 4,460 total points for their best eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour finishes since the start of the process in May 2007.  Brink and Dieckmann are seventh (4,060) points) with Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of the Netherlands sixth (4,150).  Germans David Klemperer and Eric Koreng, who did not compete in the Hyundai Open Barcelona this week, are eighth (3,400).

In the all-Brazilian bronze medal match, top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos posted a 21-13 and 21-18 win in 42 minutes over third-seeded Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado.  Emanuel and Ricardo, the reigning Olympic champions and the top-ranked team on the Beijing list (5,240 points), split $14,000 for third place with their compatriots sharing $10,500.

The Hyundai Open Barcelona was the first of seven-straight weeks of SWATCH FIVB World Tour double gender competition in Europe.  Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs of the United States captured the Hyundai women's gold medal Saturday.  The next stop of the international Beach Volleyball community is this coming week at the Polish resort in Stare Jablonki for the $350,000 Mazury Open presented by the Hotel Anders.