Last week, we highlighted the first-ever men’s beach volleyball Olympic gold medalists Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes. This week, we’re focusing on their counterparts on the women’s side, Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires.

By the time she competed in the 1996 Olympics, Jackie Silva was already a legend of Brazilian volleyball. She joined the indoor national team at the age of 14, and competed on the first-ever Brazilian women’s Olympic team at the age of 18. After two Olympics with the indoor team, she played in the Italian Professional League and shortly after left the indoor game for good.

Silva moved the U.S. in the late 1980s to compete on the WPVA tour. In 1987, she and Linda Chisholm won eight of the nine tournaments they competed in, and lost only two matches the whole season. The next year, Silva won 12 of 15 tournaments and 12 of 16 in 1989.

Sandra Pires came to the U.S. to partner with Silva in 1994. That year, the 21-year-old Pires was named the AVP Rookie of the Year, and the duo won three tournaments.

Prior to the Atlanta Olympics, Pires and Silva earned titles in seven FIVB events, and in Atlanta, the 23-year-old Pires and 34-year-old Silva didn’t lose a match on their way to the gold medal.

Silva played her last tournament in 2004. Piers competed in a total of three Olympic Games, finishing fifth in Sydney and winning bronze in Athens. She retired in 2009.

Both women are members of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame, with Silva being inducted in 2006 and Pires in 2014.