Alexandra Alexandrovna Shiryayeva (born February 9, 1983, in Leningrad

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

) is a 6'2", 165 lbs, female beach volleyball

Beach volleyball

Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....

 player from Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. She claimed the gold medal at the 2006 European Championships in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, partnering with Natalya Uryadova

Natalya Uryadova

Natalya Nikolayevna Uryadova is a female beach volleyball player from Russia. She claimed the gold medal at the 2006 European Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, partnering with Alexandra Shiryaeva.-References:...

.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she and her partner Natalya Uryadova were defeated in an historical game against Georgia while war was raging between the two countries. In an AP article by Jimmy Golan published on August 13, 2008, Alexandra Shiryayeva showed courage and grace in defeat by declaring “We just want to end the conflict, all the history between us was friendly.”

Playing partners

• Maria Bratkova
• Anna Morozova
• Natalya Uryadova
  Natalya Uryadova
  Natalya Nikolayevna Uryadova is a female beach volleyball player from Russia. She claimed the gold medal at the 2006 European Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, partnering with Alexandra Shiryaeva.-References:...
  
  
• Anastasia Vasina