We caught up with this globetrotter to talk about life on the road and why gold might be sweeter the second time around.

Q1: How difficult is it for you and your partner Jeff Nygaard to travel together so much and play together, too?

DAIN BLANTON: It can be a challenge if you don’t get along well, but me and Jeff’s personalities work well together, we enjoy hanging out and we’re good friends. That helps your partnership, especially when you’re traveling all around the world. But you do end up spending a lot of time with one another, and if you’re on the road for four or five weeks at a time it’s nice to separate and be apart from each other a little bit, so you don’t wear on one another. But we get along real well. We’re both out there to win -- our main goal is to get to the Olympics in Athens and win a gold medal.

Q2: What do you do after your matches when you’re on the road?

DAIN BLANTON: On the road it’s pretty focused. We’re in the weight room, we’re training and outside of that we’re watching movies. But if you’re in a cool place you are going to try to see the sights. When we were in France we got to see the Tour de France come through town in Marseilles, which was awesome. In Austria you’re right on the lake, you’re wakeboarding and swimming and hanging out. Every country offers something different and you try to do the tourist-y, vacation-y things as much as you can, but you don’t want it to detract from what you’re doing because you can get pretty fatigued. The internet is great because you can keep in touch with your friends and family at home. And everyone on tour pretty much has DVD players nowadays, so you’re always swapping movies and keeping yourself occupied. Not to mention reading a lot of books. The best book I’ve read this year is probably The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho.

Q3: So what about when you’re playing at home?

DAIN BLANTON: We can shop where we want, eat normal food which is nice. I’d say the biggest challenge of being on the road is keeping my weight up and keeping my diet more normal, which is difficult because you’re eating different foods, not your normal stuff.

Q4: What’s the best place for food when you’re on the road?

DAIN BLANTON: Oh man, best food, that’s a tough one. The best place to eat domestically is Chicago, there are so many great restaurants. Internationally, nothing really sticks out to be honest with you. Most places don’t feed you enough protein, you’re getting a lot of carbohydrates. I love eating in this little restaurant in Austria that overlooks the lake [Lake Worthersee]. We usually have a steak from Carinthia, which is the county we play in, and they have really good meats. And we top it off with homemade apple strudel.

Q5: You’ve already won an Olympic gold in Sydney. How does that affect you as you try to get back to the Olympics? Is it different the second time around?

DAIN BLANTON: I want to do something that nobody’s ever done – win two Olympic gold medals on the beach. You reach that pinnacle and you get a taste of it, and you only get that opportunity every four years, so I’m just as fired up to go back and do what I did. Maybe even more so because I know what it tastes like.

Q6: You’ve also won over $500,000 in prize money on the beach. What’s the coolest or most indulgent thing you’ve bought yourself with your winnings?

DAIN BLANTON: That would be my Porsche 911 Carrera! That was my favorite car as a kid, and I promised myself that I would get one if I won a gold medal. It took me about a year afterwards, and believe me it’s probably a little too expensive. It’s one of those things where you only live once, and every time I get in it I have a blast.

Q7: So do you drive it to the supermarket or does it stay in the garage until Friday night?

DAIN BLANTON: It’s a convertible and it's built to go at decent speeds, so its much more fun to be out on the open road and the highway rather than just going to the supermarket.

Q8: Have you gotten any tickets?

DAIN BLANTON: One. I got it within the first month of getting the car. But I’ve learned my lesson I think.

Or you’re a little sneakier now.

DAIN BLANTON: Yeah, I’m a little more tactical!

Q9: Describe a typical day of training for you when you’re in California.

DAIN BLANTON: I wake up, you know, Jeff and I are at the beach usually from 9 to 12, then I’m trying to get some phone calls in, do some interviews or whatever around the lunch hour and get something to eat. Then I’m in the gym around 2 to 4 or 4:30 doing plyometrics, jump training stuff, as well as weights and cardiovascular conditioning. And the nice thing with what I do is I can tool around my schedule -- if I have a photoshoot or an appointment or a sponsor-related thing then I can do it. I just got back from Nissan headquarters in Carson [Calif.] doing a clinic for their employees. So it keeps you busy.

Q10: How do you prepare yourself before you go out to play in a tournament?

DAIN BLANTON: The main thing is that you’re warm physically, you’re muscles are firing and you’ve got the blood flowing. Also that your mind is straight, you’ve got everything off your mind. Whatever you’re dealing with in life you’ve got to put that to the side when its time to compete. I do some visualization, go over what the match will be like, and try to go over what the opposition’s tendencies are going to be. You have to be on physically and mentally so you’re performing at the highest level. The most exciting time is right before a final on a Sunday afternoon. That’s what I dream of competing in, that’s when the Championship is usually won for all sports. That’s when the big show starts. I love to be home watching sports if we don’t have an event, but if there’s a volleyball event that I’m supposed to be playing in and I’m home on Sunday then that’s the worst feeling. Competing in that final game is the best feeling in the world.