Dain Blanton's greatest accomplishments include winning the Olympic Gold medal for the USA at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 alongside former partner Eric Fonoimoana. He also is the first male African-American in history to win a majorbeach volleyball event, the AVP Hermosa Grand Slam in 1997.
In 2004 Blanton once again made history by earning a spot in the Athens Olympics and becoming the first two-time U.S. male Beach Volleyball Olympian. In his beach career he has played with six other U.S. beach Olympians. He finished the 2005 season with the fifth most aces (57) and was ninth in digs (565) on the Tour while playing with Olympian Kevin Wong. Blanton teamed with Jeff Nygaard for the 2004 season. The duo came home six days after the Olympics and won the famed AVP Nissan Series Chicago Open for the second year in a row. In 2003, the duo captured three AVP titles in San Diego, Chicago and Las Vegas and was named AVP Team of the Year.
Blanton has been a finalist on the hit show "The Bachelor", was named to US Weekly's "Hottest Olympians" list in 2004, and was also Outside Magazines "Fittest Athlete."
In 1997, Blanton created "Dain's Day at the Beach," which was created to provide children with the opportunity to participate in the non-mainstream sport of beach volleyball. The charity has formed relationships with various youth organizations around the country.
Blanton grew up in Laguna Beach and was a two-sport athlete at Laguna BeachHigh School, turning down several college basketball scholarships. He began playing volleyball at age 11 because his older brother Kurt played. Dain was OrangeCounty's Player of the Year and was named to Volleyball Monthly's "Fab 50" list as one of the nations top recruits. He also earned All-American honors at the Junior Olympics.
He graduated from PepperdineUniversity with a degree in Public Relations, earned his teaching credentials. The Waves won a National Championship in 1992 (his sophomore season) while he competed on the school's volleyball team.
Blanton was born in Laguna Beach and currently resides in Santa Monica, California.
Olympics (two, gold, 19th, 0-3 Pool, 5-0 Elimination, 5-3 Overall):
• Qualified for Sydney 2000 Olympics as the number nine seed with Eric Fonoimoana. Won all five matches in bracket play, winning the gold medal, defeating Brazil's Ze Marco de Melo/Ricardo Santos in the finals.
• Qualified for Athens 2004 Olympics as the number eight seed with Jeff Nygaard. Went 0-3 in pool play and finished 19th.
