News The USA, the dominant force in Olympic beach volleyball named an imposing team for Rio 2016 on Sunday (12 June), with pride of place going to triple Olympic champion Kerri Walsh Jennings, who will be chasing her fourth consecutive gold medal The 37-year-old won gold at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, in an all-conquering partnership with Misty May-Treanor Following May-Treanor's retirement after London, Walsh Jennings teamed up with April Ross, who won silver at London 2012 with her partner Jennifer Kessy in an all-American final   "The face of this journey is different, considering I have a new partner by my side, but the spirit of it is just as beautiful and humbling and as wonderful as ever,"  Walsh Jennings said "Each Olympic cycle has been so unique and so full of the best things in life: love, personal growth, teamwork, friendship, dedication, acceptance, dream chasing, etc This journey has been no exception and yet it's been full of its own magic " In the women's event, Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat will make up the second team from the USA For both athletes, it will be their first Olympic Games "Competing with USA on my back is always an honor, but to do it at the Olympics on the biggest stage and in a city with such a rich beach volleyball tradition is truly a dream come true," Fendrick said "I feel honoured and privileged to get to compete for my country " Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are provisionally ranked third going into Rio 2016 (Photo: FIVB) The USA have also called up a veteran Olympic champion in the men's event Phil Dalhausser, who won gold at Beijing 2008 with Todd Rogers, will be competing at Rio 2016 with Olympic debutant Nick Lucena "It is a huge honour to be playing in the Olympics and representing the USA," Lucena said "Playing with Phil has been a lot of fun He's been, in my opinion, the best player in the world for a long time " In the other men's partnership, Jake Gibb will be taking part in his third Olympic Games alongside another newcomer, Casey Patterson "Being able to have someone like Jake as a partner is cool because I can go to him for all my experience," Patterson said "From day one playing together, we talked about how special it is and how important it is to embrace every win you get because they're so tough to get " The USA has won gold at every Olympic beach volleyball tournament since the sport's first appearance at an Olympic Games in 1996 The USA also has the most medals (nine) out of any country and has won three of the five gold medals in beach volleyball in Olympic history for both men and women At Rio 2016 the USA might not have it all their own way Host nation Brazil are the no 2 force in the sport, with six Olympic medals, and will have passionate home support on their side on Copabacana beach Qualification for Rio 2016 is based on performance during the FIVB World Tour, which was completed this weekend at a tournament in Hamburg Countries are able to qualify a maximum two berths per gender for the Olympic Games As well as the USA, the Netherlands, Italy and Poland have all qualified two teams for the men's event Germany, Canada and Switzerland qualified two teams each in the women's event Brazil have qualified two teams in both events, as the host country and world champions in men's and women's beach volleyball