Kerri Walsh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kerri Walsh-Jennings | |||||
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 Kerri Walsh in 2007 |
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| Personal information | |||||
| Full name | Kerri Lee Walsh-Jennings | ||||
| Nickname | Six Feet of Sunshine[1] | ||||
| Nationality |  United States |
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| Born | August 15, 1978 Santa Clara, CA, USA |
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| Hometown | Santa Clara, CA, USA | ||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||
| Beach Volleyball information | |||||
| Current teammate | |||||
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| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's Volleyball | ||
| Competitor for the United States |
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| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 2004 Athens | Beach Volleyball |
| Gold | 2008 Beijing | Beach Volleyball |
| World Championships | ||
| Gold | 2003 Rio de Janeiro | Beach Volleyball |
| Gold | 2005 Berlin | Beach Volleyball |
| Gold | 2007 Gstaad | Beach Volleyball |
Kerri Lee Walsh-Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player.
Walsh-Jennings and teammate, Misty May-Treanor, were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time".[2]
Contents |
[edit] Early years
Kerri Lee Walsh was born in Santa Clara, California and grew up in Saratoga, California.[3]
[edit] School
In her earlier elementary and middle school life, she attended Baymonte Christian School in Scotts Valley, CA As a high school student, Walsh played indoor volleyball at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California. She graduated in 1996.
In high school competition, she played against her current partner, Misty May-Treanor.[4]
[edit] College
Walsh continued on to Stanford University, where she won national titles in 1996 and 1997 and was a four-year first-team All-American,[5] Final Four MVP in 1996[6] and co-National Player of the Year in 1999.[7] She graduated from Stanford in 2000 with a B.A. in American Studies.[8] Played against her teammate (Misty May) in college.
[edit] Professional career
Kerri Walsh-Jennings plays professional beach volleyball on the U.S. AVP Tour and internationally on the FIVB World Tour.
On July 23, 2006, Walsh-Jennings topped $1 million in career earnings.[9]
Walsh-Jennings won her second gold medal at the summer games in Beijing after having rotator cuff surgery the preceding fall. She discovered kinesiology tape as a way to relieve the pain and support her shoulder without limiting her range of motion.[10]
[edit] Olympics
[edit] Sydney 2000
Walsh played in the 2000 Summer Olympics on the U.S. women's indoor team, earning a fourth-place finish.
She missed several of her first games due to a false positive on a drug test, which indicated a suspicious epitestosterone to testosterone ratio. After being retested, Walsh was cleared of any wrongdoing and allowed to continue playing.[11]
[edit] Athens 2004
At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won the gold medal in women's beach volleyball without losing a single game.
[edit] Beijing 2008
On August 21, Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor repeated as Olympic gold medalists, defeating the first-seeded Chinese team in the final match.[12] Although, May-Treanor and Walsh deserved to be the #1 seeded team, the home rule put them in the #2 spot with China as the #1. May-Treanor and Walsh did not lose a single set in either of the past two Olympics. Their final match extended their unbeaten streak to 108 matches. They are the only beach volleyball team to successfully defend their Olympic title. Overall Walsh-Jennings and partner May-Treanor earned 22 gold medals.
[edit] Personal life
She is the daughter of Tim and Margie Walsh. Walsh's father, who is six feet, eight inches in height, played minor league baseball with the Oakland A's organization, as well as semi-pro basketball. Her mother was a volleyball MVP at Santa Clara University. Walsh has an older brother, Marte, and two younger sisters, Kelli and KC.[3]
Walsh met her husband, Casey Jennings, in 2000 on the day Misty May-Treanor "auditioned" Walsh as her new partner. They were married on December 4, 2005 in Palm Springs, California.[13] On December 3, 2008, Walsh announced to Access Hollywood that she and her husband are expecting their first child, and that she is already 16 1/2 weeks pregnant. She also said that the baby might have been conceived in Beijing. On May 22, 2009, Walsh gave birth to son Joseph Michael Jennings in Los Angeles, California.[13] Walsh-Jennings currently resides in Hermosa Beach, California.[14]
[edit] TV, film and radio appearances
Walsh-Jennings has appeared in several television commercials, and has been a guest on a number of popular talk shows as a result.[citation needed] In February 2006, Walsh-Jennings had a guest-starring role in an episode of CSI: Miami along with several other AVP Volleyball players.[15]
Walsh-Jennings hosts a weekly, one-hour radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Faction 28 station. It airs every Sunday morning at 9 AM Eastern time.
Kerri Walsh-Jennings appeared in the Game Show Network television show Extreme Dodgeball. She was a member of the Detroit Spoilers, who lost all ten games they played. Kerri Walsh-Jennings also appeared along side her volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor on the show Shaq Vs. in August 2009.
[edit] Other ventures
Walsh currently endorses the therapeutic athletic tape KT Tape, or kinesiology therapeutic tape.[16]
[edit] Awards and honors
- AVP Best Offensive Player 2003
- AVP Crocs Cup Champion 2006 (Misty May-Treanor), 2007 (Misty May-Treanor), 2008 (Misty May-Treanor)
- AVP Most Valuable Player 2003, 2004
- AVP Team of the Year 2003 (Misty May-Treanor), 2004 (Misty May-Treanor), 2005 (Misty May-Treanor), 2006 (Misty May-Treanor), 2007 (Misty May-Treanor), 2008 (Misty May-Treanor)
- AVP Best Defensive Player (Blocker) 2008
- FIVB Best Blocker 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
- FIVB Best Hitter 2005, 2006, 2007
- FIVB Best Offensive Player 2007
- FIVB Most Outstanding 2007
- FIVB Sportsperson 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
- FIVB Tour Champion 2002 (Misty May-Treanor)[14]
- 2004 and 2006 — Sportswoman of the Year Award (with Misty May-Treanor)[17]
[edit] References
- ^ Associated Press (August 20, 2008). "Sand supremacy: Misty, Kerri defend title". http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/news/newsid=241310.html#sand+supremacy+misty+kerri+defend+title. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
- ^ http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/news/newsid=242746.html
- ^ a b "Athletes: Kerri Walsh. She has an eating disorder". USA Volleyball. http://volleyball.teamusa.org/athlete/athlete/1037. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
- ^ "Top U.S. athletes to watch at Beijing Games". ESPN. August 6, 2008. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3521765&type=story. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
- ^ "Walsh and Tom earn First Team AVCA All-America honors". Stanford.com. December 15, 1999. http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121599aaa.html.
- ^ "Top seeded Stanford beats Hawaii". Stanford.com. December 21, 1996. http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/archive/9798spec-rel/stan-w-volley-spec-rel1221.html.
- ^ "Kerri Walsh named National co-Player of the Year". Stanford.com. December 17, 1999. http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121799aaa.html.
- ^ "Ask the experts". QC Volleyball. http://www.qcvolleyball.org/asktheexperts.html.
- ^ "Volleyball enriches a few as popularity spikes". Atlanta Journal-Constitution: p. B2. July 9, 2006. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AT&p_theme=at&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=112C2DD4627B6480&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM.
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/15/kinesio-lifestyle-walsh-forbeslife-cx_avd_0815sport.html
- ^ Eule, Brian (July/August 2004). "On to Athens". STANFORD Magazing. http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2004/julaug/features/olympians.html.
- ^ "Beach volleyball Schedule and results". NBC Olympics. http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/resultsandschedules/gender=W/index.html. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
- ^ a b Keith, Amy (December 8, 2005). "Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh Marries". People. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1139126,00.html.
- ^ a b Kerri Walsh - Profile, Beach Volleyball Database
- ^ IMDB Filmography
- ^ [www.kttape.com]
- ^ "Sportswoman of the Year Award". Women's Sports Foundation. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/News-And-Events/Awards/Sportswoman-of-the-Year-Award.aspx. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kerri Walsh |
- Official website of Kerri Walsh
- Kerri Walsh at the United States Olympic Committee.
- Kerri Walsh on TIME's 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch.
- "Walsh's Sirius radio show". FACTION. Archived from the original on 2008-01-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20080105175247/http://www.radiofaction.com/hosts/kerriwalsh.htm.
- Kerri Walsh Photo Database
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
Preceded by Adriana Beharand Shelda Bede (BRA) |
Women's FIVB Beach World Tour Winner alongside Misty May-Treanor2002 |
Succeeded by Sandra Pires and Ana Paula Connelly (BRA) |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by Incumbent |
Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Blocker" 2005 — 2007 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Incumbent |
Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Hitter" 2005 — 2007 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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