Bjørn Maaseide (born 7 March 1968) is a Norwegian former

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

player. He represented Norway in three consecutive Summer Olympics:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. Alongside

Jan Kvalheim Jan Kvalheim (born 5 February 1963, Skien) is a former beach volleyball player from Norway, who represented his native country in two consecutive Summer Olympics: 1996 and 2000. Alongside Bjørn Maaseide he won several medals at the European Beac ...

, he won several medals at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in the 1990s. He is the brother of professional beach volleyball player

Kathrine Maaseide Kathrine Maaseide (born 18 December 1976, in Stavanger) is a female former professional beach volleyball player from Norway who represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Partnering with Susanne Glesnes, she ...

. Other playing partners are Iver Horrem and

Vegard Høidalen Vegard Høidalen (born 10 May 1971 in Skien) is a professional beach volleyball player from Norway, who twice represented his native country at the Summer Olympics: 2000 and 2004. Partnering Jørre Kjemperud he won the bronze medal in the men's b ...

. In 2007, Maaseide returned to the sand with Horrem. At the World Championships in Gstaad, they were knocked out in the first main round for the third time in a row, this time against the Brazilians

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

– Cunha. After the Norwegian duo did not qualify for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, Maaseide turned his attention to the next World Championships. His commitment helped bring the

2009 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2009 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is a beach volleyball event, that was held from June 26 to July 5, 2009 in Stavanger, Norway.Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

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* * * * 1968 births Living people Norwegian beach volleyball players Men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players for Norway Sportspeople from Stavanger Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games medalists in beach volleyball {{Norway-volleyball-bio-stub