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In our Thrill Makers in Paris series, we’ll highlight some of the summer Olympics biggest competitions. More than just focusing on the teams, we’ll look at the colleges from which these athletes hail.
At the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower, the Champ-de-Mars public greenspace has been reimagined into the magnificent Eiffel Tower Stadium, offering athletes a spectacular view of the tower as they vie for gold. This first-of-its-kind volleyball venue has quickly become a social media sensation, with Beach volleyball Olympians like Sara Hughes and Miles Partain describing the stadium as "iconic" and “the most beautiful venue in the world.” It’s a drastic and dazzling shift from the typical sand courts the athletes call home, back on the west coast.
Since the sport’s debut in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, the sunny beaches of Southern California have been an instrumental force in the growing phenomenon of Olympic beach volleyball. With institutions such as the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California fostering emerging talent through their accomplished athletic programs, it’s no surprise that Trojans and Bruins are perennially represented on U.S. women’s and men's teams.
Rival Schools Team Up to Make Olympic History: Andy Benesh and Miles Partain
The pair’s initial appearance and victory at a one-day Huntington Beach CVBA tournament in 2019 was just a glimpse of the formidable performance the two would later bring to the Eiffel Tower Stadium. Three years later in 2022, Andy Benesh and Miles Partain partnered together and went on to become the first American players to win gold on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour in Dubai.
Partain, at 23 is making Olympic history as the youngest U.S. beach volleyball player. Alongside his teammate, 29-year-old Benesh, the team makes joins the 2024 Olympic games as the youngest U.S. men’s beach team in history since its debut in 1966.
The duo is ranked 9th globally and are both products of Southern California rival colleges UCLA and USC, where both Benesh and Partain began their journey towards the 2024 Summer Games by playing college indoor volleyball.
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Benesh, a starting middle blocker for all four years of his collegiate career, led as captain his senior year at USC before switching to beach volleyball in 2018. Partain had only played two years on UCLA’s indoor team before pivoting to follow his passion for beach volleyball. In pursuit of earning a spot in the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team for the Paris Games, he left after match 10 of the 2023 season.
After a 16-year medal drought, all eyes are on the rising stars after securing their first win against Morocco despite losing their opening match against Cuba.
Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes
Following an impressive collegiate beach volleyball career as a pair—holding the record for the only undefeated season in USC's program history and winning back-to-back NCAA championships—household names Kelly Cheng (formerly Claes) and Sara Hughes split in 2018, just months into their professional careers.
One day in 2022, Cheng texted her fellow USC alumna Sara Hughes to meet up and proposed they reunite for the Olympics qualifying season. Hughes said she’d have to think about it and later called Cheng that day with her answer, “Let’s win gold in Paris.” The two later earned their Olympic bid after winning the 2023 Beach World Championship and are currently ranked #3 in the world.
“Teamwork is a huge part of our sport,” said Hughes. “When it comes down to business, we’re fiery and Kelly really brings that out on the court.”
Cheng and Hughes’ performance in the Olympics thus far mirrored their collegiate success, remaining undefeated in their matches against Czechia and France. Their triumphs are a true testament to their comprehensive preparation, which extends beyond the court to include effective communication and adept navigation of mental health challenges.
“What I’ve worked really hard on is this idea of neutral self-talk,... small productive sentences to myself,” Cheng said on an episode of My New Favorite Olympian podcast when discussing how she reframes her negative self-talk. “It’s these small, what I’m going to do, task-focused communication to myself and that’s how Sara and I communicate with each other and that's been super helpful for me.”
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Catch full Olympic coverage on NBC and Peacock, including the Women’s and Men’s Beach Volleyball Round of 16 on Sunday, August 4.
