Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana were not gold medal favorites heading into the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In fact, they weren’t even expected to reach the podium.

A month before the 2000 Olympics, the duo of Southern California natives hadn’t qualified. They needed to finish fourth or better at the FIVB Ostende Open in Belgium, and they did—barely—by taking bronze with a victory over Martin and Paul Laciga of Norway. 

The pressure of this must-perform tournament helped prepare the pair of 6-foot-3 athletes for the high-drama environment of the Olympics. Not being medal favorites also benefitted them, as they were able to focus on preparing mentally and physically instead of navigating the media storm that often accompanies an Olympic appearance. 



Blanton and Fonoimoana beat out Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson to secure the second American berth, joining Kevin Wong and Rob Heidger in Sydney. Once there, Blanton and Fonoimoana secured a spot in the gold-medal match by winning their first four: 15-7, 15-13, 15-3, 15-12. 

Fonoimoana and Blanton faced tournament No. 3 seeds Ze Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil for the gold medal. The Brazilians won all four of the two teams’ previous meetings, but the Americans eked out the first set 12-11 (at that time, the gold medal match was played with side-out scoring, best of two sets to 12, win by one) and used that momentum to win set two 12-9. 


A year after the 2000 Olympics, Blanton and Fonoimoana dissolved their partnership. Fonoimoana first paired with Dax Holdron and then Kevin Wong, and Blanton chose Carl Henkel and later Jeff Nygaard. 

Blanton only won one international title after the Sydney Olympics: the 2003 Hellas Open in Rhodes, Greece, with Nygaard. Fonoimoana never again won internationally; however, he had his best year on the AVP in 2002, when he won four titles and earned the Most Valuable Player distinction. 


Both men remain involved in the volleyball community today. Blanton started his sports broadcasting career in 2005 and has since served as an analyst for the AVP and FIVB beach volleyball events as well as NCAA indoor matches. Later this summer, he, along with Kevin Wong and Chris Marlowe, will cover the Rio Olympics. He also founded Dain’s Day at the Beach, which seeks to expand the sport of beach volleyball into communities of color.

In addition to working as a real estate broker in the South Bay, Fonoimoana co-founded Elite Beach Volleyball with Holly McPeak and started a charity called Dig For Kids.

Read the other entries in our "Gold Medal Memories" series profiling beach volleyball gold medalists from 1996 to today:

Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes

Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires