Hey guys, if you are missing out on the bikinis market, catch up now when still you can.

Japan's Mika Teru Saiki jumps to return the ball against Norway in a women's preliminary beach volleyball match at Beijing's Chaoyang Park beach ground. [Agencies]

US President Bush was spot-on the beach volleyball game, to cheer on the US's Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Truth is, though, that even on that rain-sodden day, gawping at colorful bikinis on "beach babes" sure made a nice break from running the world. One wisecracker welcomed Bush's appearance saying the world had been a safer place for a few hours. But that's another story.

Beach volleyball has been one of the Olympics' great successes since debuting as an exhibition sport at Barcelona 1992.

"The bikinis make a perfect match with the athletes' tanned skins and slim figures," says Liu Rong, a 26-year-old Chinese fan who also sported a yellow bikini at the China-Switzerland match. "The bikini hit like an earthquake when it first appeared here in 1985," recalls Peng Danrong, general manager of Haosha, one of the biggest swimwear manufacturers in China.

The bikini is now far more than just a swimsuit. As more and more Chinese take hot spring baths, beach holidays and massages, they have become a wardrobe necessity.

"Bikini-like underwear sells like hot cakes," says Cao Jing, marketing manager of Odifen, a popular lingerie brand in China.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2008-08/15/content_6938911.htm

I found the audience were wearing as nice