Athens, 17 August 2004, Games of the XXVIII Olympiad. Men's beach volleyball: Ricardo Alex SANTOS of Brazil spikes the ball past Joshua SLACK of Australia during the preliminary round at the Faliro Coastal Zone Complex. Credit: Getty Images/Ian Waldie

Other names: SANTOS, Ricardo

Born: 6 January 1975

Birthplace: Salvador (Brazil)

Nationality: Brazil

Sport: Volleyball

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Sydney 2000

Athens 2004

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 1

Silver: 1

The Block Machine

Known as "The Block Machine" because of his efficiency at the net, Ricardo Santos began competing in beach volleyball at the age of 19 without ever having played indoor volleyball. By 2000, he and his partner, Zé Marco, were one of the two top-ranked teams in the world. In the Olympic final on Bondi Beach in Sydney, they faced Americans Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, against whom they had a career record of 4-0. Ricardo and Zé Marco led the first set 11-8, but the American pair won 12-11. In the second set Ricardo and Zé Marco trailed early, but closed the gap to 9-10 before falling 9-12 and ending up with silver medals. In 2003 Ricardo joined with a new partner, Emanuel Rego, and the two won the world championship. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Ricardo and Emanuel were hard-pressed in the semifinals by Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel of Switzerland. After splitting the first two sets, Ricardo and Emanuel trailed 9-10 in the deciding set before coming from behind to win 15-12. In the final against Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera of Spain, the Brazilian pair never trailed and won 21-16, 21-15.