Dain Blanton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for  United States |
|||
| Men's Beach Volleyball | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | Sydney 2000 | Beach Volleyball | |
| World Championships | |||
| Bronze | Los Angeles 1997 | Beach Volleyball | |
Dain Blanton (born November 28, 1971 in Santa Monica, California) is an American beach volleyball player, who attended Pepperdine where he helped The Waves win a National Volleyball Championship in 1992 as a sophomore.
He won the gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games, alongside partner Eric Fonoimoana. He returned to the 2004 Olympic Games with partner Jeff Nygaard as the first two-time U.S. male Beach Volleyball Olympian.
In the first half of the 2006 AVP tour, Blanton has teamed up with Eric Fonoimoana. Prior to the AVP Atlanta Open, Blanton and Fonoimoana split because of lack of height. For the rest of the tour, he teamed up with Matt Prosser. Blanton currently teams up with Paul Baxter.
As a high school senior in 1990, Blanton was named the Orange County Player of the Year, Most Valuable Player of the Pacific Coast League and earned all-American honors at the Junior Olympics.
He is known for his fast serve, having served 57 aces on tour in the 2005 season.
Dain was the runner-up to Andrew Firestone on the third season of ABC television network reality show The Bachelor.
[edit] Awards and honors
- AVP Best Offensive Player 2003
- AVP Special Achievement 1997
- AVP Team of the Year 2003
