By Jon Ackerman

Every volleyball team will be hard-pressed to topple Brazil this summer at the Rio Olympics – men, women, indoor, beach. The country always fields formidable teams in each discipline and gender, and playing in front of their own raucous fans will only make them tougher.

Odds are the U.S. will get a crack at them. Team USA also consistently puts together strong squads on the beach and indoors, men and women. That means the greatest international rivalry volleyball has ever known will continue. 

It seems as if Brazil and the U.S. duke it out at every major competition. In reality, that notion isn't far off, especially of late. If the U.S. wants to win a title, it often has to fight off Brazil, and vice versa.

The two countries have played so many matches in so many competitions against each other, both indoors and outdoors, it's impossible to tally any sort of head-to-head record. But Olympic medals offer up an idea of how competitive these two volley nations have been. 

Brazil boasts nine Olympic indoor medals all-time, while the U.S. can claim eight. On the beach, Brazil owns the most all-time medals with 11, while the U.S. is right behind with nine. Of those nine, however, six are gold. Brazilians have taken just two Olympic beach volleyball golds. 

To get those medals, they often beat each other. Here is a look at 21 of the most notable Brazil-U.S. meetings from the Olympics, World Championships, and other major competitions: 

1. The Brazilian indoor women have claimed the past two Olympic gold medals. Both times they defeated the U.S. in the final. The U.S. women have never won Olympic gold.



2. The Brazilian and American women also met for bronze in 2000, where Brazil also emerged victorious. That was a rematch of the 1992 bronze medal-match, that time won by the U.S.
3. En route to their first FIVB world title in 2014, the U.S. women took out Brazil in the semifinals. Brazil ended up with bronze. The nations met again in the final round of the 2015 World Grand Prix, and the Americans won yet again, while Brazil finished third.
4. The U.S. women are currently ranked No. 1 in the world, with Brazil at No. 3.
5. The U.S. indoor men captured their first Olympic gold medal in front of a home crowd at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. They swept Brazil in the final. The squads met again in the semifinals four years later in Seoul, and the Americans prevailed again before taking back-to-back gold medals.



6. Brazil snagged its first Olympic indoor men's gold medal in 1992. It took out the Netherlands in the final, but first had to get by the Americans in the semifinals.
7. Brazil's next indoor men's gold medal came in 2004. Again, it beat the U.S. in the semis. The foes met again four years later for gold in Beijing. This time, Team USA prevailed.
8. The U.S. indoor men claimed their first world title in 1986 by beating Brazil in the semifinals.
9. The Brazilian men are currently ranked No. 1 in the world, with U.S. at No. 5.
10. Brazil and the U.S. established themselves in Olympic beach volleyball right away. The first competition was at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where U.S. men took gold and silver, while Brazilian women did the same.
11. American men won gold again on the Sydney beach four years later, as Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana defeated Brazilians Zé Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos in the final.
12. Brazil's Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego won beach gold in 2004, but a third beach gold for American men came in 2008 when Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser beat Brazil's Fábio Luiz and Márcio Araújo.
13. Kerri Walsh and Misty May claimed their first gold medal in 2004, defeating Brazil's Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede for the title. Walsh and May defended that gold four years later by taking out Brazilian pairs in the quarterfinals and semifinals. 



14. Walsh and May earned a third straight gold in 2012 by topping compatriots Jen Kessy and April Ross. That latter duo defeated Brazilians Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca in the semis.
15. The first beach volleyball world championships were held in Los Angeles in 1997. Brazilians won both the men's and women's gold medals, defeating American teams in the finals.
16. Either Brazilian or American women won every beach volleyball world title from 1997 to 2011. A Chinese team prevailed in 2013, but Brazil won again in 2015.
17. Emmanuel and Ricardo defeated Americans Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger for gold at the 2003 Worlds. Walsh and May defeated Adriana and Shelda that same year.
18. Walsh and May defeated Juliana and Larissa for the 2005 world title. Kessy and Ross beat Juliana and Larissa for the 2009 world title. Juliana and Larissa took down Walsh and May for the 2011 world title.
19. Rogers and Dalhausser beat Ricardo and Emanuel in semifinals of the 2007 Worlds before winning their first gold medal.
20. Kessy and Ross were only non-Brazilian team in the 2009 Worlds semis, yet they won it all.
21. Brazilian women swept the podium at the 2015 World Championships, the first time in the event's history that one country won all the medals.