US athletes hope showcase will launch beach handball into next Olympics: Racing Toward Paris

This is the third installment in our weeklong series "Racing Toward Paris," taking a closer look at Team USA members and their sports ahead of the start of the Paris Olympics.

When the Olympic Games open on Friday, July 26, in Paris, viewers will be able to watch beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.

But for USA’s Christine Mansour and Ebiye Udo-Udoma, their attention will be on another beach sport 15 miles away — beach handball.

“It’s a dream come true," Udo-Udoma told Straight Arrow News. "There are still some preparations. I don’t think the magnitude of playing in Paris has hit me because I’m still focused on training.”

Mansour, fresh off getting her MBA, means business when it comes to giving beach handball its due.

“I always view it as a startup sport," Mansour said. "Not that many people know about it, especially in the States. It’s so interesting because once I explain this sport to people and show them a clip, the interest is immediately piqued.”

Just like the sport itself, Udo-Udoma is better known outside the U.S., often referred to internationally by his nickname “Handball Ninja.”

“I remember shaking hands with an opponent," Udo-Udoma said. "I said, ‘My name’s Ebiye.’ He said, ‘Ninja, you don’t have to introduce yourself, we all know who you are.’ I just chuckled.”

Unlike the indoor version, beach handball is not yet an official part of the Olympics. But this year in Paris, beach handball is an exhibition sport played alongside the Olympic Games.

Mansour and Udo-Udoma are among 64 of the world’s best athletes from 18 different countries playing in a showcase with hopes for the sport to be granted a permanent spot.

“It’s very important to me that you have these mediums in life like sport where you can transcend barriers whether they are political, social or geographical,” Udo-Udoma said. “It’s nice to have something to connect you to other human beings independent of superficial restrictions.”

After playing Division 1 basketball at Harvard, Mansour found beach handball while living in California and excelled — becoming the top scorer in the 2022 World Championship, moving to the Netherlands and creating a dual-nation team. Now she is being named the only female player from North America for the showcase.

“We’re all entrepreneurs in the sense," Mansour said. "We’re all doing our part to build this community and build this sport, build awareness, so we can continue to reach higher levels and with that the ultimate goal is reaching the Olympics."

Mansour said one of the big differentiators setting this sport apart from others is the points for spectacular goals, including the alley oops and the spin shots.

It was those moves that first caught the attention of the future “Handball Ninja.” Udo-Udoma played at Oregon State University and joined the national team a decade ago.

“For really a couple decades worth of work to culminate into something like getting the opportunity to play under the rings, the flood of emotion that initially hit me was immense,” Udo-Udoma said.

Olympic gold is not the goal this year for these Americans. They are just out to prove beach handball belongs at the Olympics and they’re not going to miss their shot — spinning or not — to showcase that.

“So to have this opportunity as we shoot to get it on the program for Los Angeles 2028, Brisbane 2032, and to be an integral part of the history of something, that’s something that has even more value on top of what I accomplish as an individual athlete or as a competitor — to be part of something bigger than me,” Udo-Udoma said.

“For me to be part of an Olympic showcase of a sport that I’m obsessed with, that I love, and I wish the whole world knew about is the greatest honor,” Mansour added.

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