Hamburg, Germany, June 6, 2016 - The last pieces of the puzzle from the FIVB World Tour who will qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be determined here this week at the Hamburg Major as the final event to determine the Beach Volleyball pairs from the international circuit will start here Tuesday at the Am Rothenbaum stadium.
With the Hamburg Major being the 28th women’s and 30th men’s qualifying event on the FIVB World Tour, here is a how the rankings stand since the start of Rio 2016 Olympic Games process in April 2015. During this period, recognized continental championships in Asia, Europe, NORCECA and South American were also used in determining a team’s best 12 finishes during the qualifying process.
Excluding Brazilian pairs with a maximum of two teams per country, here is a look at the men’s and women’s Rio qualifying via the FIVB World Tour entering the US$800,000 Hamburg Major. With the Olympic field including 24 teams per gender, the top 15 qualifying pairs from the international circuit will secure a spot in the Copacabana quadrennial. Brazil secured two spots in each gender’s field by being the host country along with have the gold medal teams at the 2015 FIVB World Championships in The Hague.
Five spots for each gender will come from the winners of the Continental Cup competition within the five FIVB confederations. Tunisia and Egypt have already won the African confederation men’s and women’s Rio berths, respectively. The Asian, European, NORCECA and South American Continental Cup playoffs will be at the end of June.
The second and third place finishers from each of the confederations will advance to the Continental Cup Finals from July 6 to 10 where the final two spots per gender will be decided in Sochi, Russia. Countries earning spots for the African confederation in the CCF are Morocco and Angola for men, and Rwanda and Nigeria for women.
With Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgin of Mexico and Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter of Canada “on the outside looking in” for one of the 15 spots from the FIVB World Tour, the two teams cannot overtake the following pairs on the Rio ranking list.
• World Champions, Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil
• Host Country, Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil
• 1, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands
• 2, Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands
• 3, Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, United States
• 4, Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States
• 5, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia
• 6, Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera, Spain
• 7, Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy
• 8, Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland
• 9, Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri, Italy
• 10, Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria
With a gold medal finish, Ontiveros/Virgin can overtake the following teams/country if these teams do not erase their worst 12th. Ontiveros/Virgen would have 4,990 points if the Mexicans win the Hamburg Major.
• 11, Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov, Russia, 4,940
• 12, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 4,920
• 13, Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Canada, 4,820
• 14, Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany, 4,610
• 15, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany , 4,610
With a gold medal finish, Binstock/Schachter can overtake the following teams/country if these teams do not erase their worst 12th. Binstock/Schachter would have 4,810 points if they win the Hamburg Major.
• 14, Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany
• 15, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany
The two German teams are "on the bubble" with the Mexicans and Canadians. Here are other scenarios to be considered.
• If the Germans (4,610 points) do not place 17th-or-higher, the Mexicans can overtake the two teams with a fifth-place finish (4,670) with the Canadians needing to place third (4,650).
• If the Germans place ninth (4,730 points), the Mexicans would need to place fourth (4,750) and the Canadians would need to place second (4,730). This would create a tie with Bockermann/Fluggen winning the tie-breaker with the Canadians due to more overall qualifying points while the Canadians would have the edge over Erdmann/Matysik.
• If the Germans place fifth (4,850 points), the Mexicans would need to place second (4,910) and the Canadians would be eliminated (4,810).
Josh Binstock (left) and Sam Schachter of Canada
• If the Germans reach the semi-finals (4,930 points), the Mexicans would need to place first (4,990).
• If the Germans win a bronze medal (5,010 points), the Mexicans would be eliminated (4,990).
In the women’s “Chase to Copacabana”, Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia, Linline Matauatu/Miller Pata of Vanuatu, Taru Lahti/Riikka Lehtonen of Finland are “on the outside looking in” for one of the 15 spots from the FIVB World Tour, the three tandems cannot overtake the following teams on the Rio ranking list.
• Host Country, Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Brazil
• World Champions, Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, Brazil
• 1, April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings, United States
• 2, Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany
• 3, Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada
• 4, Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands
• 5, Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, Australia
• 6, Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Germany
• 7, Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, Italy
• 8, Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland
• 9, Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland
• 10, Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas, Canada
• 11, Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland
• 12, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez, Spain
The teams "on the bubble" are from the United States, China and Argentina.
• 13, Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat, United States, 4,470 points
• 14, Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, China, 4,150
• 15, Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug, Argentina, 4,100
If the USA, China and Argentina pairs do not place 17th-or-higher, the Russians would need to place fifth (4,190), the Vanuatuans would need to place fourth (4,160) and the Fins would need to place third (4,140). USA would remain safe.
If the USA (4,590 points), China (4,270) and Argentina (4,220) pairs place ninth, the Russians would need to place fourth (4,270 and tying China), the Vanuatuans would need to place third (4,240) and the Fins would need to place second (4,220 and tying Argentina). USA would secure a spot.
If the USA (4,710 points), China (4,390) and Argentina (4,340) pairs place fifth, the Russians would need to place third (4,350 point), the Vanuatuans would needs to place first (4,400) and the Fins would be eliminated.
If the USA (4,790 points), China (4,470) and Argentina (4,420) pairs reach the semi-finals, the Russians would need to place second (4,430 points) and Vanuatuans are eliminated (4,400). China would secure a spot.
If the Argentineans win the bronze medal (4,500 points), the Russians would need to win the gold medal (4,510).
Evengenia Ukolova (right) hits against Brazil's Agatha Bednarczuk as Russian partner Ekaterina Birlova follows the action
The Hamburg Major, the third of nine “big” events on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour calendar, starts Tuesday (June 7) at Am Rothenbaum stadium with qualifying where eight men’s and eight women’s teams will advance to Main Draws where pool play will be featured Wednesday and Thursday. The women’s semi-finals and medal matches will be June 11 and the men’s “final four” contests June 12. The winning teams will share the $57,000 first-place prizes.