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Kerri Walsh-Jennings biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Kerri Walsh-Jennings
  • OCCUPATION: Athlete
  • BIRTH DATE: August 15, 1978 (Age: 34)
  • EDUCATION: Baymonte Christian School, Archbishop Mitty High School, Stanford University
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Santa Clara, California
  • Full Name: Kerri Walsh-Jennings
  • Maiden Name: Kerri Walsh
  • Full Name: Kerri Lee Walsh-Jennings
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Leo

Best Known For

Kerri Walsh-Jennings is a professional beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic gold medalist. She is the longtime competitive partner of Misty May-Treanor.

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Synopsis

Paired up with Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh-Jennings won Olympic gold in beach volleyball at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and is known as one of the best players to ever compete in the sport. At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor started off with a bang, defeating Australia, the Czech Republic, Austria, The Netherlands,

Italy and China. They went on the win the final against fellow American team Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, 2-0 (21-16, 21-16), taking their third consecutive gold medal in beach volleyball.

Early Life

Kerri Walsh-Jennings was born on August 15, 1978 in Santa Clara, California, into an athletic family: Her father played minor league baseball, and her mother was a two-time Most Valuable Player in volleyball at Santa Clara University.

Walsh-Jennings graduated from Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California in 1996—as a sophomore in high school, she asked future partner Misty May-Treanor for her autograph—and then attended Stanford University. While at Stanford, Walsh-Jennings became the second player in NCAA history to be named First-Team All-American in all four seasons that she played (1996–99).

Winning Olympic Gold

In 1999, Walsh-Jennings joined the United States National Team (indoor volleyball) and was named to the 2000 Olympic Team, which finished fourth in Sydney. She graduated from Stanford in 2001 with a degree in American studies, and a reputation as one of the best all-around volleyball players in collegiate history.

In 2001, Walsh-Jennings moved her game to the beach and paired up with Misty May-Treanor. As a team, the duo is generally considered to be the best in the history of the sport, and has been virtually unstoppable for more than a decade. In 2002, they were both named Federation Internationale de Volleyball Tour Champions, and in 2003 they were named "Team of the Year." Also in 2003, Walsh-Jennings was named the Association of Volleyball Players' Best Offensive Player and MVP, an honor she received again in 2004.

On the heels of all this success, Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor, in the midst of an 89-game win streak, headed to the 2004 Athens Olympics. They overpowered the competition, eventually winning the gold, defeating Brazil in the finals. In 2005, Walsh-Jennings married Casey Jennings, a top U.S. men's beach volleyball player. She gave birth to the couple's first child, Joseph Michael Jennings, in May 2009. The following May, the couple had a second child, Sundance Thomas.

After Athens, Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor continued to dominate the field and, four years later, headed to China for the 2008 Beijing Games, again winning the gold. Also in 2008, the duo broke their own records by winning 112 matches in a row and 19 consecutive tournaments.

The year 2011 saw Walsh-Jennings return to beach volleyball after giving birth to her second son (in 2010). Teaming up again with May-Treanor for the first time internationally since Beijing, she earned a silver medal in the FIVB season opener.

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