Italy's Marta Menegatti returns the ball during a beach volleyball match against Russia earlier today, before the rain started falling

Fruity: Russia's Anastasia Vasina, right,and Anna Vozakova celebrate at Centre Court of the stadium in Horse Guards Parade at the end of the second set of their women's beach volleyball preliminary phase Pool B match yesterday afternoon

But the vast majority of the 15,000 spectators had little interest in the nationalities of those taking part. They had come to see scantily dressed athletes getting hot and sweaty.

Organisers had done their best to encourage a sea-side postcard atmosphere to the proceedings, with the Benny Hill theme tune played during every break in play and an over-excited announcer doing his best to stir up an already electrified audience.

And for those moments between matches where the crowd had no athletes to admire, cheerleaders in Fifties style swept onto the court for provocative dance routines that sent the crowd as wild as any rally.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh made the perfect start to their bid for a third successive Olympic beach volleyball gold medal with victory over Australia in the day's concluding game.

What a show: Cheerleaders perform during Women's Beach Volleyball on Day 1 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Horse Guards Parade

Beach party vibe: Cheerleaders' dance performances were greeted with cheers as enthusiastic as any those granted any of the sporting prowess on display

Good effort: Chen Xue of China dips to return the ball during the match, where they eventually lost to the Russian side

Acrobatic: Brazil's Juliana Silva dives out of bounds for a spiked ball during their match against Mauritius, from which they eventually emerged victorious