Photo Credit: Jack Gruber/USA TODAY Sports
The Olympics might be over, but there are still a lot of Olympic athletes who deserve to be spotlighted. One of the most popular of the games was Kerri Walsh-Jennings. Walsh-Jennings competed with April Ross in the women’s beach volleyball games and at age 38, still was able to finish with a bronze medal. It is assumed Walsh-Jennings will retire after competing at these Olympics but a great reason to spotlight her before the time comes.
She began playing volleyball in high school and helped lead her school to state championships in 1993, 1994 and 1995. She also led her school’s basketball team to a state championship in 1995. In 1996, she was awarded the first ever Gatorade National High School Volleyball Player of the Year. After high school, she attended Stanford University on a volleyball scholarship. During her time at Stanford, she was named to the All-American first team all four years and helped bring the team four Pac-10 titles. After winning back-to-back championships in 1996 and 1997, the team fell to Penn State in the championship round in 1999. She graduated from Stanford in 2000 with a BA in American Studies.
After college, she would put her attention on volleyball. She was a member of the U.S. AVP Tour where she and partner Misty May-Treanor came together. She played internationally as well as part of the FIVB World Tour. In 2001, Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor became one of the most unstoppable forces in beach volleyball, ranking 5th overall in the world. In 2002, the pair became number one and in 2003, the ladies won all of the eight tournaments they played in and won 90 straight matches.
Despite what many might think, her Olympic career actually began in 2000. She played on the U.S. Women’s Indoor team but failed to place. In 2004, she and Misty May-Treanor would debut together at the Olympics and take home gold after not losing a single match. In 2008, the pair would literally strike gold again and remain undefeated in Olympic competition, taking home another gold. In 2012, the pair would compete in their last Olympics together and almost kept their winning streak alive before losing to Austria in their first of three sets. Eventually, the team would bounce back and win their final gold medal together.
In 2012, Misty May-Treanor announced her retirement after winning the gold medal. That left Walsh-Jennings open to finding a new doubles partner. She would chose April Ross and the two would become almost as dominant as the previous pair. The ladies would bring back a bronze medal at Rio after defeating the number one seeded Brazil. After winning that medal, Walsh-Jennings has become the most decorated Olympic beach volleyball player ever.
In addition to her athletic career, Walsh-Jennings is married to the former professional volleyball player, Casey Jennings, and the couple has three children together. She also hosts her own radio show for Sirius XM, has posed for the ESPN’s Body Issue and has appeared as a guest star on some TV shows.
Most recently, Walsh-Jennings and Ross competed at the California Grand Slam which is a part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Even though they won Olympic bronze, the two captured the Grand Slam title, winning gold and further cementing her as the greatest beach volleyball player of all time. Even if Walsh-Jennings decides to retire soon, her legacy at the Olympics will be something we’ll always remember.
