Dain Blanton won men's volleyball gold at the Sydney Olympics with what partner?

Dain Blanton won men’s beach-volleyball gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics with partner Eric Fonoimoana. The American pair defeated Brazil’s Zé Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos in the final at Bondi Beach.

Their victory was notable because Blanton and Fonoimoana were not the tournament’s leading favorites. They won in straight sets, securing the United States its second consecutive men’s Olympic beach-volleyball title after the sport’s Olympic debut at Atlanta 1996.

Blanton had already won an NCAA championship with Pepperdine University and was an accomplished professional beach player. Fonoimoana, a California-born player of Samoan descent, had competed professionally for more than a decade and became known for his athleticism and longevity on the AVP tour.

The partnership did not continue indefinitely. Rule changes introduced after the Sydney Games altered scoring and court dimensions, and Blanton and Fonoimoana split. Blanton later competed at Athens 2004 with Jeff Nygaard, becoming the first American man to play beach volleyball at two Olympics.