Two gold-medal-winning teams obtain Beijing 2008 berths in Marseille

(BEIJING, July 21) -- The two gold-medal-winning teams at the beach volleyball open in Marseille obtained Olympic places during the event.

In the men's semifinal, Brazilians Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes beat their compatriots Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado to win a Brazilian Olympic berth with a 220-point advantage. In the following final, Araujo and Magalhaes continued their excellent form and took the gold by beating the Chinese team Wu Penggen and Xu Linyin 21-16, 21-16.

In the women's competition, the third-seeded Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau of Germany gained 3,700 points on their way to the final, eliminating their German rivals Rieke Brink-Abeler and Hella Jurich from Olympic consideration by a margin of 480 points. Each country is allowed to field a maximum of two teams in the Olympic beach volleyball competition. Pohl and Rau became the first women's team from Germany to claim a FIVB World Tour gold medal by defeating their second-seeded opponents, Brazilian duo Maria Antonelli and Vanilda Leao.