ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607290044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Our eyes in atlanta
DATELINE: JONESBORO, GA.
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
NOTE: Below
In the acronymed world that is the Olympics, there's something new that fits with IOC, ACOG and USOC. It's SPF.
In its first Olympic appearance, beach volleyball is burning up more than visitors to a place that couldn't be more landlocked.
The Clayton County International Park won't replace State Beach in Santa Monica, Calif., as the Mecca for the game, but it does have the only permanent site in the world for the budding sport.
It's called "Atlanta Beach," and there's plenty of sun, sand and high-SPF sunblock. If you're looking to catch a wave, try the jumping-jack spectators in the stands, which have been heavily populated during these Games.
About as close as you'll get to the ocean is the Savannah seafood kabobs sold at the concession tent.
Atlanta's beach, located about 25 miles southeast of downtown, has a circular pond with a surrounding beach and a water slide in addition to the volleyball courts, one of which is a 9,000-seat stadium. However, it isn't so much the facility that's impressive.
It's the atmosphere.
It's Baywatch Meets the Olympics.
And what's wrong with having fun while you're trying to win a gold medal?
"It doesn't hurt our feelings if anyone doesn't take us seriously," said Karch Kiraly, volleyball's most familiar name in this country and a two-time Olympic gold medalist for the U.S. indoors.
It's also the only Olympic venue where you can buy a frozen margarita at 10 a.m. It's $6. By late afternoon, some fans are well-oiled, whether or not they've remembered to use their sun block.
The people who play the sport are and aren't amazed to be playing for gold. After all, it hasn't been that long they've been playing for cash. The first significant pro tournament was held only 20 years ago, the $5,000 World Championships at State Beach in Santa Monica.
There were 24 men's teams and 18 women's duos in the Games, which finishes its week at the beach with gold-medal matches today and Sunday.
"It's a pleasant surprise what's happened here," said Barbara Fontana Harris, who with partner Linda Hanley ended the hopes of fellow Americans Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno in an elimination match Friday morning.
"We hoped if people would come out they'd have a good time, and that's what we need for the sport to continue to grow. It's a great sport for people to continue their careers in."
Hanley admits to being dumbfounded by the size and emotion of the crowd. The pro tour is popular, but nothing like this.
"It's incredible," said Hanley, a 35-year-old mother of two. "I was out there in the old days, playing for T-shirts and dinners."
Those days are history, but it hasn't been that long the best American players could make a living at their sport. Women didn't have a pro tour until nine years ago. To support herself, Reno had a different waterside responsibility back in 1990. She was an environmental consultant and research diver on the Exxon Valdez oil-spill cleanup.
"The hardest part about this," she said after the loss, "is that I know I won't be able to compete on the U.S. team again. I'll be playing in Central Park next week. We have a ton of tournaments, but the Olympics is special."
Beach volleyball has become so popular, it already has power-struggling acronyms at the top. FIVB sanctions teams for the Olympics. The AVP tour has more prize money, $4.5 million annually, to $2.6 million. The FIVB also runs four-person leagues.
Each has a beer sponsor: Budweiser for the FIVB, the France-based International Volleyball Federation; and Miller for the Association of Volleyball Professionals.
Either way, it's a long way from the first pro tournament played in 1948, in Los Angeles.
The winners won a case of Pepsi.
The International Olympic Committee voted beach volleyball into the Games in 1993. There's no going back now.
"It takes a lot of athletic skills to play this sport," said Kiraly, who teams with Kent Steffes. "It's just hard to get respect. Sometimes, that's tough to do when you have sand between your toes."
Although more than 200 nations play FIVB-sanctioned volleyball, the beach version isn't a pro game across the globe. For some, it's a weekend sport. The Estonian men's team entered here? A car salesman and a carpenter.
That's the way it was for beach bums in the sport in this country years ago. Now the game has found respect and more.
Which leaves only one question about beach volleyball: Does a margarita go under the same column as suntan lotion on your expense account?
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Barbara Fontana Harris (left) and Holly McPeak, bothby CNBAmericans, compete Friday in a game of beach volleyball. For more on
the Olympics, see B1. color.