Ricardo Alex Costa Santos (born January 6, 1975 in Salvador de Bahia) is a 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 Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, who won the silver medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 in Sydney, Australia, with partner Zé Marco de Melo

Zé Marco de Melo

José Marco Nóbrega Ferreira de Melo is a beach volleyball player from Brazil, who won the silver medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, partnering Ricardo Santos. He also represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta,...

.

Santos also represented his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 in Athens, Greece. There he claimed the gold medal, teaming up with Emanuel Rego

Emanuel Rego

Emanuel Fernando Sheffer Rego is a beach volleyball player from Brazil, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, partnering Ricardo Santos...

, with whom he won the world title in October 2003.