Beach volleyball was first played in Santa Monica, California in the 1920’s, three decades after the sport of volleyball (or ‘mintonette’, as it was then known) had been invented by William G Morgan in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

The principles of beach volleyball are similar to those of volleyball, though there are also some fundamental differences. For instance, there are only two players on a team in official beach volleyball competitions (as opposed to six in volleyball) and the court is made of sand. Oh, and the players wear rather less clothing.

A team scores points by grounding the ball on the opponents’ court or when the opposition commits a fault. Teams can make contact with the ball no more than three times before the ball has to cross the net. Consecutive contacts must be made by different players and only the serving team can score a point.

One of the characteristics of beach volleyball is the use of hand signals by players behind their backs to indicate to their partners what play they intend to make.

The first official two-man beach volleyball tournament was held in 1947 at Will Rogers State Beach, California, though there was no prize money. The first tournament to offer a prize took place in Los Angeles the following year, when the best teams were awarded a case of Pepsi Cola.

The first sponsored beach volleyball tour started in the United States in 1980, with seven events on the calendar. The total prize money was $52,000.

In 2002, Holly McPeak, an American, became the first women’s beach volleyball player to win career prize money of more than $1m. In the same year, Karch Kiraly became the first men’s player to win career prize money of more than $3m.

Having been a demonstration sport in 1992, beach volleyball became an official Olympic sport at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where the men’s and women’s competitions took place at a 10,000-seat stadium in Atlanta Beach. Kirali, who won the men’s gold medal with Kent Steffes, is the only person to have won Olympic gold in both the indoor and the beach version of the sport. He originally learned volleyball from his Hungarian father on the beaches of California.

Twenty-four men’s pairs and 24 women’s pairs compete in the Olympics tournament. Matches are the best of three sets, with the first two sets played to 21 points and the third to 15. However, a team must have a two-point advantage to win a set.

Brazil have won more Olympic beach volleyball medals (nine) than any other country, even though the sport only started to become popular on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the early 1980’s. The United States have bagged seven medals (five of them gold) while Australia and China have each won two medals. Spain, Canada, Germany and Switzerland have claimed one apiece.

The beach volleyball events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London will take place on Horse Guards Parade in the heart of Westminster.