Javier Bello (born 20 July 2000) is a British

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. Together with his twin brother Joaquin, they are the current British No. 1 team. They won the bronze medal at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. He is a 4-time medallist on the FIVB World Tour, winning Britain’s only gold medal, and a 2-time British champion.

Junior career

Javier and Joaquin started playing volleyball at the age of 6 at their local club in Madrid. In 2011, their family moved to London and they joine
Richmond Volleyball Club
where they won multiple national championships in indoor and beach volleyball in all the underage categories. In 2016, the brothers started their international beach volleyball career and earned their first England cap at the U1
NEVZA
Beach Volleyball Championships, eventually taking the gold medal. Beach volleyball made its Commonwealth Games debut in the

2017 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the VI Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Bahamas 2017, or Nassau 2017, was the sixth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games which started in 2000. The games were held from 19 to ...

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

, Bahamas. There, the duo won gold, helping England to top the medal table. Whilst in the middle of their A-levels, the Bello brothers qualified for the

2018 Youth Olympic Games The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international multi-sport event, sports, cultural, and edu ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, making them the first ever British team to qualify for this competition. They clinched the 5th and last European spot for the Games by beating Hungary in the last playoff match. Representing

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

for their first time, the brothers lost in the quarterfinal against host country Argentina, ending up in 5th place. They finished in 5th place at the U19 World Championships in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, China - Britain’s highest ever finish at any world junior event.

Senior career

Javier played his first World Tour event in Aydin, Turkey in 2017. In 2019, the twins won a bronze medal in Rubavu, Rwanda after being defeated by the eventual champions Japan in the semifinal. It was the first ever World Tour medal for a British men’s team. In 2021, they won their first World Tour gold medal in Cortegaça, Portugal, the first in British history. They followed that with another medal, a bronze at the World Tour event in

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

. In 2022, the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour replaced the FIVB World Tour and the Bello brothers won another bronze medal in Cortegaça, Portugal. With his brother, he achieved a career-high

world ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

of No. 43 in May 2022. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the brothers competed for Team England at the Smithfield arena, later nicknamed the "Bellodrome”. They achieved a historic bronze medal, the first for England at the Commonwealth Games, just 5 years on from their triumph at the Commonwealth Youth Games. Javier has won 2 British Championship titles, winning the UK Beach Tour Finals in 2020 and 2021.

Personal life

After moving to London in 2011, Javier attended Gunnersbury Catholic School in Brentford, London. The brothers train in

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

and are coached by their father Luis Bello, a former professional player and coach. Beach volleyball is a full family affair with their younger brother also playing volleyball and their mum coordinating their support team. Javier graduated from

Royal Holloway University Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, ...

with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

References

External links

* *
Javier Bello
at th
Olympedia database

Javier Bello
at

Commonwealth Games England Commonwealth Games England (CGE) is the national Commonwealth Games Association for England. The council is responsible for supporting and managing the participation of England at the Commonwealth Games, Team England at the Commonwealth Games'. ...

Javier Bello
at the

British Volleyball Federation The British Volleyball Federation (BVF) is the national sports governing for volleyball participation in the UK. It is a Home Nations federation of Volleyball England, Volleyball Wales, Scottish Volleyball and Northern Ireland Volleyball. It lo ...

Javier Bello
at

Volleyball England Volleyball England is the national governing body for indoor volleyball, sitting volleyball and beach volleyball in England. It selects the national teams and coordinates several national competitions, including the National Volleyball League, N ...

Javier Bello
at the UK Beach Tour {{DEFAULTSORT:Bello, Javier 2000 births Living people Bello British men's beach volleyball players English men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball defenders FIVB World Tour award winners Beach volleyball players at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in beach volleyball Beach volleyball players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games