Aldis Imants Bērziņš (born October 3, 1956) is a

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former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player who was a member of the

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that won the gold medal at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

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. He also won a gold medal at the 1985 FIVB World Cup in Japan, where he was selected as the best digger.

College

Bērziņš was a star outside hitter on the

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

volleyball team. He played with future Olympic teammates Rich Duwelius and Marc Waldie at Ohio State. In those years, he led the Buckeyes to four straight

Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association The Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. The conference footprint is centered in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Missouri in the ...

(MIVA) championships and four appearances in the NCAA Final Four. He graduated from Ohio State in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in astronomy. Bērziņš was inducted into the Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.

Awards

* Three-time All-MIVA first-team selection * Olympic gold medal — 1984 * FIVB World Cup gold medal — 1985 * FIVB World Cup All-Tournament selection — 1985 * Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame — 2002

Coaching

Bērziņš has been head coach of the men's volleyball program at

Stevenson University Stevenson University is a private university in Baltimore County, Maryland with two campuses, one in Stevenson, Maryland, Stevenson and one in Owings Mills, Maryland, Owings Mills. The university enrolls approximately 3,615 undergraduate and g ...

since October 2016.

Personal life

Bērziņš has worked as the Director of Information Technology for the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

. Bērziņš and his wife, Mara, have three sons, Kris, Mik, and Dainis, all of whom have played volleyball. Mik was on the first NCAA National Championship team for Ohio State in 2011, and Dainis was on the National Championship team of Loyola University Chicago in 2014. Kris played volleyball professionally in Europe.

References

External links