Kerri Ann Pottharst OAM (born 25 June 1965) is an Australian former 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 and Olympic gold medallist. Pottharst was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, and currently resides in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In addition to her previous volleyball commitments, Pottharst is an accomplished speaker, MC and presenter. She runs corporate team-building programs, and commentates Indoor and Beach Volleyball. She also founded
The Athlete Story
- a speaker training business.

Sporting career

Pottharst began playing indoor volleyball in 1982 and by 1990 was recognised as one of the best volleyball players in Australia. A serious knee injury in 1992 forced her off the hard court and she began playing beach volleyball. She partnered with

Natalie Cook Natalie Louise Cook (born 19 January 1975) is an Australian professional beach volleyball player and Summer Olympics, Olympic gold medallist. She became the first Australian woman to compete at five Olympic Games. Early life Cook was born in T ...

, and together they represented Australia at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, winning a bronze medal—the very first time that beach volleyball had been an Olympic sport. In the same year, the pair won a silver medal at the world championships and came first in the World Tour Event in Japan. Cook and Pottharst split for a few years afterwards, but they reunited in time for the Sydney Olympics. Before the games, they finished third in the World Tour Events in France and Portugal. At the Games themselves, the pair dominated the competition, taking out the gold medal. In the aftermath of their Olympic win, the pair were awarded the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

, Australia's highest honor. Cook and Pottharst were included in the

Fédération Internationale de Volleyball The International Volleyball Federation commonly known by the acronym FIVB (''Fédération Internationale de Volleyball''). Is the international sports governing body, governing body for all forms of volleyball. Its headquarters are located in ...

's Team of the Decade. After the 2000 Olympics, Pottharst retired, but she decided to come out of retirement and return to competition until she suffered a career-ending knee injury. According to worldwide beach volleyball statistics, Pottharst had never been outside of the top 10 and rarely outside of the top six in International Beach Volleyball events since 1994 until her final retirement in 2003. Pottharst appeared on the Nine Network's TV reality show '' Celebrity Circus'' in 2005, in which she trained with stars of Australia's Silvers Circus.

References

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* * * * * 1965 births Living people Australian women's beach volleyball players Olympic beach volleyball players for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Beach volleyball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian people of German descent Volleyball players from Adelaide Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportswomen from South Australia International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Australian sportswomen 21st-century Australian sportswomen {{Australia-Olympic-medalist-stub