By Damien Gayle
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Beach volleyball babes were getting wet and wild (and, er, cold) at Horse Guards Parade today after the venue was treated to a true taste of British summer.
The heavens opened over the Westminster venue, with spectators breaking out the umbrellas and ponchos at the open-air arena and players covering themselves with towels during breaks in play.
Vast swathes of the stands lay abandoned as women from Spain beat the Netherlands in the driving rain during their preliminary match just after midday today.
But the home crowd were given reason to cheer this afternoon as Great Britain duo Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney made a dream start to their Olympic campaign, defeating Canada's Marie-Andree Lessard and Annie Martin.
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Victorious: Zara Dampney, left, from Great Britain celebrates with her teammate Shauna Mullin, right, after defeating Canada in their Beach volleyball match on Sunday
The British pair, the country's first female representatives in this sport at the Olympics since 1996, impressed on their way to a 17-21 21-14 15-13 victory
Weather-beaten fans were even treated to flashes of sunshine as the British pair prevailed in an absorbing Pool F contest, showing flashes of real quality on their way to a gripping 17-21 21-14 15-13 victory.
Mullin and Dampney will take great encouragement from their performance and will hope for more of the same in their next preliminary phase match against Italy's Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, as the clouds drew in over central London, many of the spectators abandoned their seats for warmer, drier conditions indoors.
Those who stuck around watched Spain's Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan come from a set down to secure victory over Holland.
Wet and wild: The heavens open over the Women's Beach Volleyball Preliminary Round match between Kikiana Steiner Fernandez and Elsa McMillan Baquerizo of Spain and Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands at Horse Guards Parade
A true taste of British summer: Dark skies during Men's Beach Volleyball Preliminary match between Spain and the Netherlands
The pair lost the opener against Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer but eventually overcame both the opposition and the elements on their way to a 14-21 21-16 15-11 Pool D win.
The Dutch looked comfortable as they took the first set by seven points, with Van Iersel in particular a threat at the net.
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But as the weather deteriorated the Spaniards came to life, and led by strong services games by Baquerizo McMillan - who provided all six aces served in the match - rattled off the next two sets to ensure their campaign began on a high.
Earlier Italians Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti kicked off their Olympic preliminary phase with a solid three-set win over Russia this morning.?
These two sides are also due to take on host nation Great Britain as part of their women's Pool F programme, and it was the Italians who stole an early march in the group with a 17-21 21-8 15-8 win in 56 minutes.
Nail biter: The Spaniards came from behind to beat their Dutch rivals 14-21 21-16 15-11.? Elisa Baquerizo embraces teammate Liliana Fernandez, rear, after their win
Italy's Marta Menegatti returns the ball during a beach volleyball match against Russia earlier today, before the rain started falling
Russia's Evgeniya Ukolova hits the sand during the match against Italy, which the Italians won in straight sets
Plenty took to Twitter as they watched what could be the most popular Olympic event among men today. 'Wet womens beach volleyball! TV doesnt get much better than this!' wrote Toon_jack, while carl_army tweeted: 'Women's beach volleyball is boss #wedgieseverywere.'
Niall Brophy wrote simply: 'Ah yes. Women's beach volleyball. :)'
The conditions were a far cry from those enjoyed by spectators and players at Horse Guards yesterday where it was bikinis, beer and Benny Hill as the beach volleyball kicked off and seemed the Olympics hottest ticket.
As the sun beat down, beautifully built competitors cast the venue's historic architectural sights in to the shade as they digged, spiked and bumped the ball across the sandpit in the heart of the capital.
Teams from China and Russia, Czech Republic and Poland, Australia and the U.S., Switzerland and Greece were all competing in the preliminary matches on the 2012 Games' opening day.
Sights and sounds: The Olympic beach volleyball tournament kicked off yesterday in the historic heart of the UK capital. However, spectators' eyes were firmly fixed upon the athletes and their toned bodies
Fruity: Russia's Anastasia Vasina, right,and Anna Vozakova celebrate at Centre Court of the stadium in Horse Guards Parade at the end of the second set of their women's beach volleyball preliminary phase Pool B match yesterday afternoon
But the vast majority of the 15,000 spectators had little interest in the nationalities of those taking part. They had come to see scantily dressed athletes getting hot and sweaty.
Organisers had done their best to encourage a sea-side postcard atmosphere to the proceedings, with the Benny Hill theme tune played during every break in play and an over-excited announcer doing his best to stir up an already electrified audience.
And for those moments between matches where the crowd had no athletes to admire, cheerleaders in Fifties style swept onto the court for provocative dance routines that sent the crowd as wild as any rally.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh made the perfect start to their bid for a third successive Olympic beach volleyball gold medal with victory over Australia in the day's concluding game.
What a show: Cheerleaders perform during Women's Beach Volleyball on Day 1 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Horse Guards Parade
Beach party vibe: Cheerleaders' dance performances were greeted with cheers as enthusiastic as any those granted any of the sporting prowess on display
Intermission: The dancers emerged onto the court between matches, as the MC whipped the crowd into a frenzy
The American duo, champions at Athens in 2004 and Beijing four years ago, were made to work all they way for the win 21-18 21-19 against the Australian duo of 2000 gold medal winner Natalie Cook and Tamsin Hinchley.
Unfortunately for those watching, in a game that got under way at 11pm and with temperatures around the 13 degrees Centigrade mark, both teams opted to don warmer clothing for the match.
The Australians selected legging and long-sleeved tops, while the Americans were happy just cover up their top halves.
After the reigning champions edged a close first set, the second proved even more enthralling, with May-Treanor and Walsh trailing 13-9 at one stage. A run of four straight points brought them back level, before the game ebbed and flowed the rest of the way.
Eventually the American pair came through on their first match-point chance, winning a brilliant rally which stood as a fitting conclusion to an exciting opening day.
The day began with an upset in the very first match as second seeds Xue Chen and Zhang Xi slipped to defeat against Russia in Pool B.
Xue and Zhang, bronze medallists in Beijing four years ago, are among the favourites for gold this time but made a poor start to their Olympic quest as they fell to a 18-21 21-14 16-14 loss to Anastasia Vasina and Anna Vozakova.
Xue Chen and Zhang Xi were bronze medallists in Beijing four years ago, are among the favourites for gold this time but made a poor start to their Olympic quest
Good effort: Chen Xue of China dips to return the ball during the match, where they eventually lost to the Russian side
Rolling in the sand: With a look of rapt concentration, China's Zhang Xi waits to return the ball
China never looked at their best throughout the contest, and only just got across the line in a 20-minute opening set that could have gone either way.
The 21st-ranked Russians responded well in the next, taking the set comfortably, before the third - deciding sets are first to 15, rather than 21 - went to the wire.
China looked home and dry when they ran up two match points at 14-12, but some great defensive play saw the Russians pull back level, before they forced match point for themselves at 15-14, which was converted when Vasina's spike cannoned out of bounds off the helpless Zhang.
Six-time world champions Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva of Brazil demolished Natacha Rigobert and Elodie Li Yuk Lo of Mauritius 21-5 21-10 in Pool A, while the Czech Republic's Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova rallied to beat Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger 10-21 21-13 15-13 in Pool C.
Acrobatic: Brazil's Juliana Silva dives out of bounds for a spiked ball during their match against Mauritius, from which they eventually emerged victorious
Six-time world champions Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva of Brazil demolished Natacha Rigobert and Elodie Li Yuk Lo of Mauritius 21-5 21-10 in Pool A
Cheeky: Greece's Maria Tsiartsiani signals the strategy to teammate Vasiliki Arvaniti before serving to Switzerland's Nadine Zumkehr and Simone Kuhn during their women's beach volleyball preliminary match
Long-limbed: Greek and Swiss players struggle for the ball during their match
Germany's Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler posted a straight-sets 21-16 21-18 win over the Czech Republic's Lenka Hajeckova and Hana Klapalova in Pool A, while in the penultimate women's match of the day Switzerland's Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr beat Vasiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani 21-13 21-19.
In the men's tournament, heavily fancied Brazilians Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha started their campaign with a straight-sets win over Norway's Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr in Pool F.
Ricardo is one of the great names of the sport and is bidding for a fourth Olympic medal - following on from his silver at Sydney 2000, gold at Athens 2004 and bronze in Beijing - and he and his team-mate looked in good touch today as they ran out 21-14 21-18 winners.
Also in Pool F, Great Britain duo Steve Grotowski and John Garcia-Thompson went down to a 21-19 21-13 defeat to Joshua Binstock and Martin Reader of Canada.
Our boys: Steve Grotowski of Great Britain dives for the ball. He and John Garcia-Thompson went down to a 21-19 21-13 defeat to Joshua Binstock and Martin Reader of Canada
Earlier the men's tournament kicked off with an impressive win for Latvia's Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins in Pool D.
The Latvians made a slow start against Mariusz Prudel and Grzegorz Fijalek of Poland, losing the first set, but recovered well to post a 12-21 21-15 15-12 victory.
In Pool C, Germany's Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann defeated Russia's Konstantin Semenov and Serguei Prokopiev 21-19 21-17, while Switzerland's Seba Chevallier and Sascha Heyer defeated Xu Linyin and Wu Penggen of China 18-21 21-16 15-12.
The final men's match of the day, in Pool D, saw United States duo Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal defeat South Africa's Freedom Chiya and Grant Goldschmit 21-10 21-11.
Video: Beach Volleyball fans give mixed reviews of the athletes' attire
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