Middle of the game

"It's a three-letter word. It's not complicated." David Hoskinson, a photographer who has been covering Olympic events for 20 years, has firm opinions on why women's beach volleyball is so popular with corporate sponsors. "You know this, you're a bright girl," he sniffs. "Sex sells."
Horse Guards Parade is crowded with families in expensive leisurewear and corporate guests in branded lanyards waiting for the beach volleyball. It's not a traditional British sport. However, of the Olympic events for which government officials and sponsors have been permitted to block-book tickets, women's beach volleyball is among the most popular – the Government bought 410 tickets at a cost of £26,000, compared to just 256 athletics tickets. The sport is also a hit with sponsors such as Visa and Coca-Cola.
Ministers insist that the popularity is pure coincidence because the matches are held at weekends, as if there was something inherent to beach volleyball that requires it to be played at times when the international business representatives, from whom the British government wishes to secure £4bn in new contracts over the course of the Games, are most likely to be free.

Shuffling into line for the next match is a large number of men with matching Coca-Cola backpacks. "The appeal is obviously fabulous bodies," says Hoskinson. "They're all tall, they're all athletic, they have hard bodies. Use your imagination." Most of us waiting outside will have to do just that. Sponsors have had no trouble filling all their spaces for the beach volleyball. Andrew Monk, 42, works for Coca-Cola. "I'm bringing a customer as part of our contact strategy, because we both wanted to come," he says. "That's how our businesses talk to each other – Coke as a corporate sponsor has had [these tickets] for years."