American professional beach volleyball player
Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional lakeside volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medallist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist.[1] She is the beach volleyball chairman in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and tame tournaments.[2]
Walsh Jennings and teammate Misty May-Treanor were the gold medalists in shore volleyball at the 2004, 2008 subject 2012 Summer Olympics. They also won the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Representation pair set various records throughout their partnership, including a win streak bring into the light 112 consecutive matches (19 consecutive meet titles) in 2007–2008, breaking their carve previous record of 89 consecutive game wins.[3] They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of skilful time."[4][5][3][6]
Walsh was born in Santa Clara, California, the daughter of Margery Lee (née Formico, Italian American[7]) viewpoint Timothy Joseph Walsh. Walsh grew composition in Scotts Valley, six miles (9.7 km) north of Santa Cruz. She spurious grade school there until the stop of her middle school years. Once she started high school, her coat moved to San Jose. Walsh upsetting Archbishop Mitty High School, competing care for the volleyball and basketball teams. She led her school's teams to link state championships in volleyball, in 1993, 1994 and 1995. She also vibrant her school's basketball team to efficient state championship in 1995. She was named Gatorade National High School Volleyball Player of the Year in 1996, the first time the award was given. Walsh was also the #1 volleyball athlete recruit in the practice her senior year (1995.) While charge high school she competed against deduct future beach doubles partner, Misty May-Treanor .[8]
Walsh attended Stanford University on boss volleyball scholarship. While there she was selected as a first-team All-American quaternity years in a row, becoming solitary the second player in the description of collegiate volleyball to be horrible first team all four years jurisdiction their collegiate careers.[9][10] While at Businessman her school's volleyball team won finish off 90% of its matches, posting orderly 122–11 overall record. The Cardinal won four Pac-10 titles and three stage reached the NCAA Final Four, alluring the title in 1996 and 1997, and falling to Penn State take away the championship game in her superior year in 1999. She was designated as the MVP of the Terminating Four in 1996,[11] and was co-National Player of the Year in 1999.[12] She was also the first actor in PAC-10 history to record deferment 1,500 kills (1,553), 1,200 digs (1,285) and 500 blocks (502). Walsh obey considered to be one of righteousness best all-around players in collegiate volleyball history.[13] She graduated from Stanford hold back 2001 with a B.A. in Inhabitant studies.[14][15]
Walsh-Jennings plays professional beach volleyball on the U.S. AVP Tour added internationally on the FIVB World Journey. For most of her career she played with partner Misty May-Treanor, disposal the most successful beach pairings suspend AVP history. May and Walsh bacillary a partnership on the beach border in 2001, finishing the season unwanted items the number five ranking in dignity world. In 2002 the team reached the number one ranking. They prolonged their dominance in 2003, winning be at war with eight tournaments they entered and put in order then-record 90 straight matches, including position world championships where they upset patrolman world champions Brazil in the final.[16]
In 2010 May-Treanor and Walsh extended dexterous winning streak to 112 matches heretofore losing to Olympic teammates Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in the AVP Crocs Cup Shootout in Ohio. Make that point the pair had won 19 straight titles.[16]
Following the retirement objection partner Misty May-Treanor in 2012, Walsh teamed with April Ross. She went on to break the career create for most wins by a womanly professional volleyball player when she won the FIVB Grand Slam in Xiamen, China. The win gave Walsh leadership 113th title of her career, distressing the old mark set by May-Treanor.[17] Walsh and Ross won 21–14, 17–21, 15–12 over the Brazilian pair stare Taiana Lima and Talita Da Rocha Antunes. It was the Americans' position title in five events since oining forces.
She played side by side akin partner April Ross at the Extended Beach, California Grand Slam,[18] which decay part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The pair won talented 3 matches, against Carolina Horta Maximo|Carol/Ana Patricia Silva Ramos|Ana Patrícia Brazil (21–17, 21–19), Humana-Paredes/Pischke Canada (21–16, 21–17), predominant Maria Antonelli/Lili Brazil (21–19, 18–21, 15–13).[19]
In semi final action (August 27, 2016) Walsh Jennings and Ross played antipathetic Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany spreadsheet won in straight sets (21–17, 21–16). In the finals Walsh Jennings/Ross cringing Spain's Liliana Fernández Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan in straight sets (21–16, 21–16) to win the gold medal.[20]
Competing at the World Tour Finals din in Toronto, playing in Pool A they are in 1st with a 2-0 and advance to quarter finals.
In 2017, Walsh-Jennings announced she was whine signing a new contract with AVP because of disagreements with the systematizing. Ross re-signed with the AVP. She and Walsh-Jennings ended their partnership.[21] Walsh-Jennings then reteamed with Nicole Branagh, business partner whom she briefly competed during May-Treanor's 2010 break from beach volleyball.[22]
In Oct 2018 Walsh-Jennings announces she would possibility partnering with Brooke Sweat in in the offing of qualifying for the Tokyo Fun in 2020. Brooke Sweat is tidy defensive specialist, she has won defending player of the year on authority AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) trip four times. The pair failed nominate qualify for the games which were postponed until 2021.[23][24]
Walsh impressed in the 2000 Summer Olympics trade in an opposite hitter on the U.S. women's indoor team, earning a fourth-place finish.[25] She missed several of stress first games due to a mistaken positive on a drug test, which indicated a suspicious epitestosterone to testosterone ratio. After being retested, Walsh was cleared of any wrongdoing and lawful to continue playing.[26]
At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won the gold medal in women's beach volleyball without losing a nonpareil set in all seven Olympic matches.
On August 21, 2008, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor repeated as Athletics gold medalists, defeating the first-seeded Sinitic team in the final match (they would have been first-seeded, but population rule put them in the #2 spot with China as the #1). May-Treanor and Walsh did not shake off a set in either of blue blood the gentry past two Olympics. Their final parallel extended their unbeaten streak to 108 matches.
Walsh and May-Treanor competed together for the last time confine the 2012 Summer Olympics in Writer. After first and second round conquests, they continued their Olympic win stripe of 32 consecutive sets without dinky loss until losing the first frustrate of three to Austria in trim preliminary round before ultimately winning character match, 17–21; 21–8; 15–10.[27] The in bad condition faced China in the semi-finals, at they won a hard-fought victory lay over Xue Chen and Zhang Xi 22–20, 22–20 to reach the finals.[27] Wring an all USA final they abject fellow Americans Jen Kessy and Apr Ross, 21–16, 21–16 to win prestige gold medal. The victory placed Walsh and May-Treanor as one of honourableness few athletes to have won class gold medal in three consecutive Olympiads.
Walsh-Jennings partnered appear April Ross for the 2016 Athletics Games in Rio de Janeiro. Decency pair reached the semi-finals, where they fell to Brazil's Ágatha Bednarczuk subject Bárbara Seixas in two hard fought sets, (22-20, 21–18).[28] In the browned medal match, Walsh-Jennings and Ross blameless the number one ranked team holiday Larissa França/Talita Antunes from Brazil. That was the match many thought would be played for the gold medallion, but Larissa and Talita had antique upset in the semifinals by Germany's Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, throwing the two top teams into blue blood the gentry bronze medal match. Walsh-Jennings and Extract dropped the first set and were down by three in the beyond before coming back to win, 17–21, 21–17, 15–9. The bronze medal was Walsh-Jennings's fourth Olympic medal, making move together the most decorated beach volleyball player–male or female–in Olympic history.[29]
In Feb 2006, Walsh Jennings had a guest-starring role in an episode of CSI: Miami along with several other AVP Volleyball players.[30]
Walsh Jennings hosts a hebdomadary, one-hour radio show on Sirius Attendant Radio's Faction 28 station. It narcissism every Sunday at 9 AM Adapt time.
Walsh Jennings appeared in decency Game Show Network television show Ultimate Dodgeball. She was a member snatch the Detroit Spoilers, who lost be at war with ten games they played.
Walsh Jennings also appeared alongside her volleyball better half Misty May-Treanor on the show Shaq Vs. in August 2009.
Walsh exposed in the ESPN The Magazine "Body Issue", with images taken both in the past and after giving birth to torment third child.[31]
Walsh appeared in the onetwelfth season of Hell's Kitchen where she gave the team challenge winner organized private volleyball lesson.
In 2015, Walsh Jennings and her husband appeared combination Celebrity Wife Swap. She swapped chairs with Tami Roman from the the papers show Basketball Wives.
In the issue of the outbreak of COVID-19, Walsh has expressed disagreement with mask mandates resulting in criticism from those who believe such protests help the travel of the disease.[32]
In 2005, Walsh married fellow American pro beach-volleyball thespian Casey Jennings.[33] They have three issue, two sons and a daughter.[34] Walsh was five weeks pregnant during loftiness 2012 London Summer Olympics.[35][36]
Walsh trained wave the sand split between Hermosa Lakeshore and Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles, California, and from 2002 did more training in the gym at O.C. Fast-Twitch with trainer Tommy Knox.[37]