Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments. (Disputed: The source includes only American domestic titles.) Walsh Jennings and teammate Misty May-Treanor were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. They also won the

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is the double-gender world championship for the sport of beach volleyball organized by the ' (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official e ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. The pair set various records throughout their partnership, including a win streak of 112 consecutive matches (19 consecutive tournament titles) in 20072008, breaking their own previous record of 89 consecutive match wins. They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time."

Early years

Walsh was born in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

, the daughter of Margery Lee (née Formico, Italian American) and Timothy Joseph Walsh. Walsh grew up in Scotts Valley, north of Santa Cruz. She attended grade school there until the end of her middle school years. Before she started high school, her family moved to San Jose. Walsh attended

Archbishop Mitty High School Archbishop Mitty High School affectionately known as Mitty by its staff, students and alumni is a private Catholic high school located in San Jose, California, United States. The school is named for John Joseph Mitty, the fourth Archbishop of S ...

, competing on the volleyball and basketball teams. She led her school's teams to three state championships in volleyball, in 1993, 1994 and 1995. She also led her school's basketball team to a 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 nation her senior year (1995.) While in high school she competed against her future beach doubles partner, Misty May-Treanor .

College

Walsh attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

on a volleyball scholarship. While there she was selected as a first-team All-American four years in a row, becoming only the second player in the history of collegiate volleyball to be chosen first team all four years of their collegiate careers. While at Stanford her school's volleyball team won over 90% of its matches, posting a 122–11 overall record. The Cardinal won four Pac-10 titles and three times reached the NCAA Final Four, winning the title in 1996 and 1997, and falling to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

in the championship game in her senior year in 1999. She was selected as the MVP of the Final Four in 1996, and was co-National Player of the Year in 1999. She was also the first player in PAC-10 history to record over 1,500 kills (1,553), 1,200 digs (1,285) and 500 blocks (502). Walsh is considered to be one of the best all-around players in collegiate volleyball history. She graduated from Stanford in 2001 with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

Professional career

Walsh Jennings plays professional beach volleyball on the U.S. AVP Tour and internationally on the FIVB World Tour. For most of her career she played with partner Misty May-Treanor, forming the most successful beach pairings in AVP history. May and Walsh formed a partnership on the beach circuit in 2001, finishing the season with the number five ranking in the world. In 2002 the team reached the number one ranking. They continued their dominance in 2003, winning all eight tournaments they entered and a then-record 90 straight matches, including the world championships where they upset defending world champions Brazil in the final. In 2010 May-Treanor and Walsh extended a winning streak to 112 matches before losing to Olympic teammates

Elaine Youngs Elaine Youngs (born February 14, 1970, in Orange, California) is an American former professional volleyball player who competed both indoors and on the beach. Youngs attended UCLA, where as a freshman she started on a team that went undefeated ...

and Nicole Branagh in the AVP Crocs Cup Shootout in Ohio. To that point the pair had won 19 straight titles. Following the retirement of partner Misty May-Treanor in 2012, Walsh teamed with

April Ross April Elizabeth Ross (born June 20, 1982) is a former American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerr ...

. She went on to break the career record for most wins by a female professional volleyball player when she won the FIVB Grand Slam in

Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...

, China. The win gave Walsh the 113th title of her career, breaking the old mark set by May-Treanor. Walsh and Ross won 21–14, 17–21, 15–12 over the Brazilian pair of Taiana Lima and Talita Da Rocha Antunes. It was the Americans' third title in five events since joining forces.

World tour 2016

She played alongside partner April Ross at the Long Beach, California Grand Slam, which is part of the

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour (known between 2003 and 2012 as the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour for sponsorship reasons) was the worldwide professional beach volleyball tour for both men and women organized by the ' (Fédération ...

. The pair won all 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), and Maria Antonelli/ Lili Brazil (21–19, 18–21, 15–13). In semi final action (August 27, 2016) Walsh Jennings and Ross played against

Chantal Laboureur Chantal Laboureur (born 4 January 1990) is a retired German beach volleyball player. Professional career From 2021 to 2022 her teammate has been Sarah Schulz. She has ended her career in late 2022. World tour 2016 At the 2016 Grand Slam at Lon ...

/ Julia Sude of Germany and won in straight sets (21–17, 21–16). In the finals Walsh Jennings/Ross defeated Spain's

Liliana Fernández Steiner Liliana is derived from the Latin word 'lilium' or 'lilion', both mean 'lily' in English. Due to this, the name means "pure" and "innocent". The name is generally found in North America, though it is more common in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ...

and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan in straight sets (21–16, 21–16) to win the gold medal. Competing at the World Tour Finals in Toronto, playing in Pool A they are in 1st with a 2-0 and advance to quarter finals.

2017

In 2017, Walsh Jennings announced she was not signing a new contract with AVP because of disagreements with the organization. Ross re-signed with the AVP. She and Walsh Jennings ended their partnership. Walsh Jennings then reteamed with Nicole Branagh, with whom she briefly competed during May-Treanor's 2010 break from beach volleyball.

2018-2019

In October 2018 Walsh Jennings announces she would be partnering with Brooke Sweat in hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Games in 2020. Brooke Sweat is a defensive specialist, she has won defensive player of the year on the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) tour four times. The pair failed to qualify for the games which were postponed until 2021.

Olympic appearances

Sydney 2000

Walsh played in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

as an opposite hitter 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.

Athens 2004

At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won the gold medal in women's beach volleyball without losing a single set in all seven Olympic matches.

Beijing 2008

On August 21, 2008, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor repeated as Olympic gold medalists, defeating the first-seeded Chinese team in the final match (they would have been first-seeded, but home rule put them in the #2 spot with China as the #1). May-Treanor and Walsh did not lose a set in either of the past two Olympics. Their final match extended their unbeaten streak to 108 matches.

London 2012

Walsh and May-Treanor competed together for the last time in the

in London. After first and second round wins, they continued their Olympic win streak of 32 consecutive sets without a loss until losing the first set of three to Austria in a preliminary round before ultimately winning the match, 17–21; 21–8; 15–10. The pair faced China in the semi-finals, where they won a hard-fought victory over Xue Chen and Zhang Xi 22–20, 22–20 to reach the finals. In an all USA final they defeated fellow Americans Jen Kessy and

, 21–16, 21–16 to win the gold medal. The victory placed Walsh and May-Treanor as one of the few athletes to have won the gold medal in three consecutive Olympiads.

Rio de Janeiro 2016

Walsh Jennings partnered with

for the

2016 Olympic Games The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Rio de Janeiro. The pair reached the semi-finals, where they fell to Brazil's Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas in two hard fought sets, (22-20, 21–18). In the bronze medal match, Walsh Jennings and Ross faced the number one ranked team of

Larissa França Larissa França Maestrini (born April 14, 1982) is a Brazilian beach volleyball player. She is the all-time leader of beach volleyball titles, with 57 FIVB career gold medals, including the 2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships with Juliana ...

Talita Antunes Talita Antunes da Rocha (born August 29, 1982) is a Brazilian beach volleyball player, playing as a blocker. She was Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, FIVB rookie of the year in 2005, and FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, World Tour Win ...

from Brazil. This was the match many thought would be played for the gold medal, but Larissa and Talita had been upset in the semifinals by Germany's Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, throwing the two top teams into the bronze medal match. Walsh Jennings and Ross dropped the first set and were down by three in the second before coming back to win, 17–21, 21–17, 15–9. The bronze medal was Walsh Jennings's fourth Olympic medal, making her the most decorated beach volleyball player–male or female–in Olympic history.

Media appearances

In February 2006, Walsh Jennings had a guest-starring role in an episode of '' CSI: Miami'' along with several other AVP Volleyball players. Walsh Jennings hosts a weekly, one-hour radio show on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

's Faction 28 station. It airs every Sunday at 9 AM Eastern time. Walsh Jennings appeared in the Game Show Network television show

Extreme Dodgeball ''Extreme Dodgeball'' is an American game show based on the game of dodgeball that aired between 2004 and 2005 on the Game Show Network. The series ran for three seasons, each of which featured six to eight teams of five to seven players. The f ...

. She was a member of the Detroit Spoilers, who lost all ten games they played. Walsh Jennings also appeared alongside her volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor on the show Shaq Vs. in August 2009. Walsh appeared in the

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...

"Body Issue", with images taken both before and after giving birth to her third child. Walsh appeared in the twelfth season of ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, or Midtown West on real estate listings, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, ...

'' where she gave the team challenge winner a private volleyball lesson. In 2015, Walsh Jennings and her husband appeared on

Celebrity Wife Swap ''Wife Swap'' is an American reality television series based on the British series of the same name that premiered on September 26, 2004. In the program, two families, usually from different social classes and lifestyles, swap wives/mothers – ...

. She swapped places with

Tami Roman Tamisha Akbar Youngblood (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née Akbar; born April 17, 1970), known professionally as Tami Roman, is an American television personality, model, actress, singer, businesswoman and producer. She first gained fam ...

from the television show Basketball Wives. In the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19, Walsh has expressed disagreement with mask mandates resulting in criticism from those who believe such protests help the spread of the disease.

Personal life

In 2005, Walsh married fellow American pro beach-volleyball player Casey Jennings. They have three children, two sons and a daughter. Walsh was five weeks pregnant during the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Walsh trained on the sand split between

Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach (, Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Ba ...

and Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles, California, and from 2002 did additional training in the gym at O.C. Fast-Twitch with trainer Tommy Knox.

Awards and honors

* AVP Best Offensive Player (2): 2003, 2014 * AVP Crocs Cup Champion (3): 2006, 2007, 2008 (all with Misty May-Treanor) * AVP Most Valuable Player (2): 2003, 2004 * AVP Team of the Year (8): 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 (with Misty May-Treanor), 2014, 2016 (with April Ross) * AVP Best Defensive Player (Blocker) (1): 2008 * FIVB Best Blocker (7): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014 * FIVB Best Hitter (5): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2016 * FIVB Best Offensive Player (2): 2007, 2014 * FIVB Most Outstanding (4): 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014 * FIVB Sportsperson (5): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012 * FIVB Tour Champion (1): 2002 (with Misty May-Treanor) *

Sportswoman of the Year Award The Sportswoman of the Year Award is given by the Women's Sports Foundation every year. This foundation recognizes both an individual and a team Sportswoman on their performance over a 12-month period. This award is given based on their new records ...

(2): 2004 and 2006 (with Misty May-Treanor)

Achievements

* Most women's career tournament victories: 133 * Most women's career earnings: $2,561,635 * Record win streak of 112 consecutive matches and 19 straight tournaments that lasted from August 2007 to August 2008

References

External links