Kerri Walsh Jennings

Kerri Walsh Jennings
Walsh in Hermosa Beach on May 19, 2007
Personal information
Full name	Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings
Nickname	Six Feet of Sunshine
Nationality	American
Born	(1978-08-15) August 15, 1978 Santa Clara, California
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	71 kg (157 lbs)
Beach volleyball information
Previous teammates
Years Teammate 2013-present 2011–2012 2010 2001–2009 April Ross Misty May Nicole Branagh Misty May
Medal record Women's volleyball Representing the United States Olympic Games 2004 Athens Beach volleyball 2008 Beijing Beach volleyball 2012 London Beach volleyball World Championships 2003 Rio de Janeiro Beach volleyball 2005 Berlin Beach volleyball 2007 Gstaad Beach volleyball 2011 Rome Beach volleyball

U.S. President George W. Bush visits Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor while at the 2008 Olympics.

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 the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics. They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time."

Early years

Kerri Lee Walsh was born in Santa Clara, California, the daughter of Margery Lee (née Formico) and Timothy Joseph Walsh. Her ancestry includes Italian (from a great-grandfather), Austrian, Irish, Canadian, and Scottish. She grew up in Saratoga, California.

School

Kerri grew up in Scotts Valley, CA attending school there until the end of middle school. As a high school student, Walsh played indoor volleyball at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California. She graduated in 1996. There, she led her team to three state championships in indoor volleyball from 1993 to 1995. She also led her team to one state championship in basketball in 1995. In 1996, she was named by G (ESPNHS) as their first girl's national volleyball player of the year. In high school competition, she played against her future partner, Misty May-Treanor.

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, Final Four MVP in 1996 and co-National Player of the Year in 1999. She graduated from Stanford in 2000 with a B.A. in American studies. She played against her teammate (Misty May) in college.

Professional career

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.

Olympics

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.

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 set.

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 2012 Summer Olympics 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. They went on to defeat fellow Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross, 21–16, 21–16 on August 8, 2012 to win the gold medal once again.

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's Faction 28 station. It airs every Sunday morning at 9 AM Eastern time.

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.

Walsh Jennings also appeared alongside her volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor on the show Shaq Vs. in August 2009.

She also posed nude both before and after birth for the 2013 ESPN "Body Issue".

Other ventures

Walsh currently endorses the therapeutic athletic tape KT Tape (Kinesiology Therapeutic Tape).

Training

In addition to her training on the sand split between Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles, California, Walsh has been training in the gym at O.C. Fast-Twitch since 2002 with trainer Tommy Knox.

Personal life

Walsh is married to fellow American pro beach-volleyball player Casey Jennings. Together, they have two sons and a daughter, Joseph Michael (born May 22, 2009), Sundance Thomas (born May 19, 2010) and Scout Margery (born April 6, 2013). Walsh was five weeks pregnant during the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Doctors have confirmed that Jennings did not put herself or the baby in danger when she was competing at the Olympics.

Awards and honors

• AVP Best Offensive Player (1): 2003
• AVP Crocs Cup Champion (3): 2006–2008 (all with Misty May-Treanor)
• AVP Most Valuable Player (2): 2003–2004
• AVP Team of the Year (6): 2003–2008 (all with Misty May-Treanor)
• AVP Best Defensive Player (Blocker) (1): 2008
• FIVB Best Blocker (4): 2005–2008
• FIVB Best Hitter (3): 2005–2007
• FIVB Best Offensive Player (1): 2007
• FIVB Most Outstanding (1): 2007
• FIVB Sportsperson (4): 2005–2008
• FIVB Tour Champion (1): 2002 (Misty May-Treanor)
• Sportswoman of the Year Award (2): 2004 and 2006 (with Misty May-Treanor)

External links

• Kerri Walsh Jennings' official bio at USA Volleyball
• May, Walsh reflect on Olympic Journey
• Golden Girl goes for three-peat in London
• Official website of Kerri Walsh
• O.C. Fast-Twitch Hall of Fame Kerri Walsh
• Kerri Walsh on TIME's 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede (BRA)	Women's FIVB Beach World Tour Winner alongside Misty May-Treanor 2002	Succeeded by Sandra Pires and Ana Paula Connelly (BRA)
Awards
Preceded by Inaugural	Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Blocker" 2005–2008	Succeeded by Juliana Silva (BRA)
Preceded by Juliana Silva (BRA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Blocker" 2011–2012	Succeeded by Talita Antunes (BRA)
Preceded by Talita Antunes (BRA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Blocker" 2014	Succeeded by Sarah Pavan (CAN)
Preceded by Inaugural	Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Hitter" 2005–2007	Succeeded by Larissa França (BRA)
Preceded by April Ross (USA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Hitter" 2012	Succeeded by Talita Antunes (BRA)
Preceded by Juliana Silva (BRA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Attacker" alongside Misty May-Treanor 2007	Succeeded by Misty May-Treanor (USA)
Preceded by Talita Antunes (BRA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Attacker" 2014	Succeeded by Larissa França (BRA)
Preceded by Denise Johns (GBR)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Most Inspirational" 2011–2012	Succeeded by Laura Ludwig (GER)
Preceded by Laura Ludwig (GER)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Most Inspirational" 2014	Succeeded by Pata Miller (VAN)
Preceded by Larissa França (BRA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Most Outstanding" 2007	Succeeded by Misty May-Treanor (USA) Zhang Xi (CHN)
Preceded by Juliana Silva (BRA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Most Outstanding" 2012–2014	Succeeded by Larissa França (BRA)
Preceded by Inaugural	Women's FIVB World Tour "Sportsperson" 2005–2008	Succeeded by Shelda Bede (BRA)
Preceded by Juliana Silva (BRA)	Women's FIVB World Tour "Sportsperson" 2012	Succeeded by Taiana Lima (BRA)