Beach volleyball the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) was founded. At the professional level, the sport remained fairly obscure until the 1980s when beach volleyball experienced a surge in popularity with high-profile players such as Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, and Karch Kiraly. Kiraly won an Olympic gold medal in beach volleyball in its first Olympic appearance in 1996, adding that to the two Olympic golds he won as part of the USA men's indoor team, and has won 142 titles. In the 1980s, the sport gained popularity on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1986, the
Beach Volleyball Major Series Beach Volleyball Major Series The Beach Volleyball Major Series (or Beach Major Series and formerly the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series) is an international series of beach volleyball tournaments which began in 2015. The tournaments consist of Tour Stops and form part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The series concludes with the FIVB World Tour Finals. Each tournament in the series has a prize pool of USD$300,000 per gender, except for the World Tour Finals which has a prize pool of USD$400,000 per gender. The Beach Volleyball Major Series arose out of a joint-venture between Austrian companies Red