Beijing, China, August 21, 2008 - Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh became the first team to repeat as Olympic champions here Thursday by defeating Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China for the gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Summer Games.

Played in a steady rain before a capacity crowd at the 12,200-seat Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground, the second-seeded May-Treanor and Walsh posted a 21-18 and 21-18 win in 42 minutes over the top-seeded Tian and Wang to claim the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games gold medal.

“Every win is special, but this gold medal is the most important since it was in the Olympics against a host country team before a great crowd,” said Walsh, “I am humbled by this experience and grateful to have such a great partner as Misty. We are also honored to be on the same podium with two great teams from China.They are great competitors and will be a force on the international tour for years to come.”

"The Chinese team is amazing. They are so young and they pressed us so hard in the match. I feel proud to play with them in the final," she said.

The Chinese duo said they were happy with the silver medal, a historic breakthrough for China, whose previous best Olympic finish was ninth place, achieved by Tian and her then partner Wang Fei at the Athens Games.

"I'm excited to win the silver medal. We did our best in the match. I'm proud to present such a wonderful match in front of the large audience," said the 1.87-meter Wang, whose efficiency at the net made big contributions to trade points with the defending champions before the visitors outscored them in the last minutes.

Tian and Wang said before the match began that their rivals were "very strong" both in experience and technique and they just wanted to do their best in the final match.

For the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games bronze medal, the fourth-seeded Xue Chen and Zhang Xi scored a 21-19 and 21-17 win in 39 minutes over sixth-seeded Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro of Brazil to secure a second Chinese spot on the podium as the host country was netting their first-ever Summer Games Beach Volleyball medals.

While Chinese were winning their first two Olympic Beach Volleyball medals, Brazil was denied a Summer Games podium spot for the first time as the South American country captured gold and silver in 1996 (Atlanta), silver and bronze in 2000 (Sydney) and silver in 2004 (Athens)."We are delighted to achieve this success, especially before family and friends,"said Xue.