Olsztyn, Poland to host first ever FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam

Returning to Poland for the 12th consecutive year, Olsztyn will be a first-time venue on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The double-gender FIVB Olsztyn Grand Slam will be held from August 25 to 30, the last of five FIVB Grand Slam events on the FIVB World Tour 2015. The tournament will offer a total purse of $800,000.

Besides Olsztyn, the other Polish sites of FIVB international events have been Myslowice, Stare Jablonki and Warsaw.

Up until the 2014 event, Poland has hosted a total of 24 FIVB World Tour events (13 men, 11 women) over an 11-year period with Brazil leading the medal count in both genders. 

In the men’s totals after 13 events, Brazil has 14 medals, followed by USA with seven, Germany with five each, Spain with three, Latvia with two and with one men’s medal each are Argentina, Australia, Austria, China, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Switzerland.

After 11 FIVB World Tour women’s events held in Poland up until 2014, Brazil leads the medal parade with 14 total medals followed by China and Germany with five each, USA with four, Italy with two and with one women’s medal each are Australia, the Netherlands and Norway.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015 calendar will include five FIVB Grand Slams, a new FIVB Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series of three events, six FIVB Opens and a special FIVB Swatch Beach Volleyball Season Final in the United States.

The showcase event will be the $1 million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015.

A total of 14 countries will host events this year as the 2015 FIVB World Tour also begins the Olympic qualification process with all FIVB World Tour events (except the World Tour Finals) in 2015 up until June 13, 2016 counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine the 15 vacancies for each gender that will take part in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

The 2015 FIVB World Ranking system will again include FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam and Open events along with additional pre-approved events at the inter-continental, continental and national levels.

Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds.

The 2014-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Continental Cup also returns this year as it starts its portion of the qualification process for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

Olsztyn is one of the most important cities in Poland. It is located at the North eastern part of the country of Poland. The city of Olsztyn was established in 1353 and has a population of just under 200,000.  The area of the city covers 88.328 km (34.104 sq mi). Olsztyn is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian province in Poland. Olsztyn is immensely popular with the tourists from all over the world for the dense forests and the lakes situated in the region.

Olsztyn is famous for the lakes that are located in the city. There are 13 lakes in Olsztyn. The lakes in Olsztyn add to the beauty of the landscape of the region and also provide many activities for tourists.