Beach volleyball made its debut as an official Olympic sport in 1996. That year, "Atlanta Beach," now known as Clayton County International Park, in Jonesboro, Georgia, hosted the inaugural 24-team-per-gender tournament. It included two guys you might have heard of: Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes, who brought home the men's gold medal.

By 1996, Kiraly, then 35, already competed in two Olympics with the indoor national team, won an Olympic gold medal, and amassed 120 beach volleyball titles. Steffes was 28 and boasted 82 beach volleyball titles.

The two qualified for the Atlanta Olympics along with fellow Americans Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel and Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh. Through the first two rounds, Kiraly and Steffes appeared to barely break a sweat, and defeated Andrea Ghiurghi and Nicola Grigolo of Italy 15-7 and Jorg Ahmann and Axel Hager of Germany 15-5.

But their quarterfinal match versus Smith and Henkel may be one of the most epic beach volleyball matches of all time. Kiraly and Steffes eventually won the 54-minute match 17-15, but not after plenty of back and forth between the two rival teams.



The top American pair then took out Canadians John Child and Mark Heese in the semifinals before facing Dodd and Whitmarsh in yet another all-American showdown. This rainy gold-medal match was played best two-out-of-three and decidedly went the way of Kiraly and Steffes 12-5, 12-8.




In the month following the Atlanta Olympics, Kiraly and Steffes won three more AVP titles. When the 1997 season rolled around, Steffes paired up with Brazilian Jose Loiola and Kiraly formed a partnership with Adam Johnson. Steffes retired in 1999, but Kiraly continued to play until 2007. He won his last title in 2005 at the Huntington Beach Open with Mike Lambert.

After Steffes put his boardshorts away for good, he obtained a MBA from Stanford and began working in the financial services industry. He even helped broker a deal to save the near-bankrupt AVP tour in 2010.

If you've been following the events leading to the Rio Olympics, you know Kiraly took over the U.S. Women's National Team head coach position in 2012. Under his leadership, the team won its first World Championship gold medal and is currently ranked No.1 in the world.

Next week, FloVolleyball will bring you "Gold Medal Memories" from Brazilian beach volleyball pair Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva.