Jonas Reckermann (born 26 May 1979 in

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...

) is a retired

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 from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Together with his most recent partner

Julius Brink Julius Brink (born 6 July 1982 in Münster) is a beach volleyball player from Germany, who won the gold medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2006 European Beach Volleyball Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, partnering Christoph ...

, he won the gold medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, which, along with Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst are the most successful Olympic appearances of a German beach volleyball team. They were the first European duo to win the Olympic gold medal – male or female competition. In addition to that they also were the first European team ever to win a world championship title and are currently ranked 22nd on the FIVB World Tour (as of 23 July 2012).

Early tournaments

Reckermann represented his native country at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, where he finished in ninth place with his then partner

Markus Dieckmann Markus Dieckmann (born 7 January 1976 in Bonn) is a retired professional beach volleyball player from Germany, who represented his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. There he ended up in ninth place in the overall-ranki ...

. He twice won the

European Beach Volleyball Championships The European Beach Volleyball Championship (or the Nestea European Championship Final) is a unisex sport competition for national teams in the sport of beach volleyball. The championship is held annually by the CEV (the European volleyball fede ...

, in 2002 and 2004. In 2009, he won four FIVB competitions (three consecutive Grand Slams) and the German Masters of the CEV European Championship Tour with partner

. This includes the 2009 FIVB World Championship, held from 26 June to 5 July in

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 ...

, where they beat top- seeded

Harley Harley may refer to: People * Harley (given name) * Harley (surname) Places * Harley, Ontario, a township in Canada * Harley, Brant County, Ontario, Canada * Harley, Shropshire, England * Harley, South Yorkshire, England * Harley Street, in L ...

– Alison in the final and former FIVB world champions and gold medalist of 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 ...

Rogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) * Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...

– Dalhausser in the semi final.

2012 Olympics

Brink – Reckermann won the Olympic beach volleyball tournament in London in 2012. In the final, they beat the Brazilian team of Alison – Emanuel, making this the first victory of a European country at Beach Volleyball in Olympic history.

Playing partners

Mischa Urbatzka Mischa is a diminutive form of the name Mikhail. Men * Mischa Auer (1905–1967), Russian actor born Mikhail Semyonovich Unskovsky * Mikhail Mischa Bakaleinikoff (1890–1960), Russian-born musical director, Hollywood film composer and conduc ...

* Eric Koreng

Retirement and media career

Reckermann announced his retirement from competition after the 2012 season due to injury. He is currently the main

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

for

Sky Germany Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

's beach volleyball broadcasts.

References

*
Swatch FIVB World Tour

CEV European Championship Tour

Homepage of Brink Reckermann (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reckermann, Jonas 1979 births Living people People from Rheine Sportspeople from Münster (region) German men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball blockers Beach volleyball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players of Germany Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics FIVB World Tour award winners