McClatchy Washington Bureau

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BEIJING — Amidst exhaustive research, a young journalist covering his first Olympic Games, some 32 years ago, earnestly interviewed an athlete named Bob Nieman about the sport of modern pentathlon.

The story was a yawner, it must be confessed.

The big news nugget was that, as a 26-year-old lieutenant, Gen. George S. Patton had competed in the five-sport modern pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics.

Progress marches on, alas. Earnest Olympic research this week consisted of going to Google and searching for the articles that contained the terms "beach volleyball" and "babes."

Google returned more than 395,000 hits, even behind the scrupulous Chinese firewall.

Welcome to the new Olympics, though, the Olympics of volleyballers in bikinis, women in wrestling singlets and, new this year, BMX bike racing.

What's next - skateboarders?

Oops. Forget we even mentioned that.

The new Pattons of the Olympics are women like Misty May-Treanor, a "babe," if you will, with a gold medal in beach volleyball.

May-Treanor was there in Sydney in 2000 at Bondi Beach when beach volleyball went from cult anomaly to the cover of Maxim magazine.

Olympic volleyball, played at a supersonic speed, has always been good sport. But toss in a beach, athletes in bikinis, dancing Brazilians and grandstands filled with Jeff Spiccoli wannabes, and you've got an Olympics success story.

Beach volleyball begins Saturday at the Beijing Games with preliminary round competition in both the men's and women's divisions. May-Treanor and her partner, Kerri Walsh, begin play Sunday, China time.

"It's all about the freedom," May-Treanor said. "Not only the athletes, but the fans at beach volleyball have freedom - freedom to dance and clap and cheer and to just lose the long-sleeved shirts and ties for a weekend."

The 2004 Olympic beach volleyball competition featured a bikinied dance team from the Canary Islands "performing" between matches.

Sexist? Nobody at beach volleyball seems to be complaining.

"Look, our suits are functional,"" May-Treanor said. "I grew up on the beach. I don't understand what the big deal is. When I'm at the beach, I'm not wearing sweat pants."

At the Beijing Games, however, there is no beach. A temporary stadium for beach volleyball has been constructed east of the Tiananmen Square area.

All it takes a lot of sand. One of the neater places on the pro beach volleyball tour, May-Treanor says, is a makeshift court in Gstaad, Switzerland.

"You can see the glacier," she said. "And each afternoon they herd the cows down the middle of the main street. It's like playing volleyball in the middle of 'Sound of Music.'"

It hasn't hurt beach volleyball, either, than the party-heartying Brazilians have taken to the portable sport.

"They dance the whole time we're out there," May-Treanor said.

Clearly, this is not your father's - or the late general's - Olympics.