Four-time Olympian leads Pool F of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour

(BEIJING, June 26) -- In Wednesday's Main Draw competition, Natalie Cook of Australia, currently expecting her fourth Olympic appearance, posted two wins with partner Tamsin Barnett and advanced to Thursday's match as No. 1 of Pool F.

Ranked 11th in all 32 Main Draw teams, the Australian duo defeated their Brazilian and Italian rivals on Wednesday. They will secure Pool F's group outright Thursday, if striking another win over the 6th-seeded Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro.

As the only women beach volleyballer to have been in the past three Olympic Games, Cook will again compete in Beijing this summer. Cook has four counterparts on the man's side, Martin Conde of Argentina, Emanuel Rego of Brazil, Mark Heese of Canada and Bjorn Maaseide of Norway, but she boasts to be the only person to have survived beyond quarterfinals of all the past Olympic Games, by finishing third, first and fourth in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens respectively.