Skip to main content

Rio Olympics 2016: Can Kerri Walsh Jennings take on Australia Without Misty May-Treanor?




Walsh Jennings will be returning for her fifth Olympic games, but the first in over ten years without Misty May-Treanor. Can she still win gold against the Brazilians’ home court advantage?
The London 2012 Games were the end of an era. Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor went together like peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, chocolate and vanilla, the Rio Olympics and every possible misfortune. Winning three gold medals together in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 summer Olympics, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor have been described as “the greatest beach volleyball team of all time.”
The two first found each other—alright, they were paired together for the FIVB international tour—in 2001 after narrowly missing Olympic medals in Sydney in 2000 (May-Treanor and her partner came in 5th in the beach volleyball tournament, Walsh Jennings came in fourth in the indoor volleyball competition).
Since 2001, the two had been known as a pair on the international and national beach volleyball circuit. They competed together in the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics, becoming a household name– even to non-beach volleyball fans.
But it seems that May-Treanor really means it this time when she says she’s not coming back to compete. Walsh Jennings will be competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics with April Ross, who earned second place in the London Olympics.
While Ross is no May-Treanor, the almond-butter and jelly pairing will still be a force to reckon with in Rio.
Ross can certainly hold her own on the court. She has eight AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) and nine FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) first-place finishes overall. She was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 2008 Phuket Thailand Open and, together with Jennifer Kessy, beat World Champion couple May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings in the AVP tournament in California. Kessy and Ross also beat Brazilians Juliana Silva and Larissa França way back in 2009 before trouncing them again in the semifinals of the 2012 London Olympics.
While Ross and Walsh Jennings are favorites to medal in Rio, they have quite a few challenges ahead. In addition to rebranding, Ross and Walsh Jennings must face Brazilian all-star Larissa França on her home turf. On top of that, Walsh Jennings underwent shoulder surgery in the fall.
Here’s hoping the 37-year-old can be just as dominant in her 5th Olympics with Ross as she was in three Olympics with May-Treanor.
The team takes on Australia in their first Olympic match together, Saturday, August 6 at 11pm EST.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hillary Clinton Gains Double-Digit Lead Over Donald Trump in Key Battleground States

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has built up a significant lead in several crucial battleground states, according to new NBC/WSJ/Marist polling released today. Clinton has generated double-digit margins in Virginia and Colorado with 13-point and 14-point advantages over Trump, respectively. The poll also showed Clinton with leads over Trump in Florida and North Carolina. In the Sunshine State, Clinton has a 5-point edge among registered voters. In North Carolina, Clinton enjoys a 9-point advantage. Losses in these states could be devastating for Trump. The Republican nominee’s clearest path to the White House requires wins in Ohio and Florida, where Hillary Clinton has a slight lead, as well as North Carolina and Pennsylvania, where he trails by a broad nine percentage points. Trump has been plagued by controversy since his party’s convention three weeks ago, clashing with the father of a fallen Muslim soldier, refusing to endorse House Speaker...
1 comment
Read more

Former NFL player Darren Sharper sentenced to 18 years in drugging and rape case

The former NFL player Darren Sharper has been sentenced to 18 years in prison in a case in which he was accused of drugging and raping as many as 16 women in four states. Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced Sharper on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty or no-contest in federal court in New Orleans, and state courts in Louisiana, Arizona, California and Nevada to charges arising from the allegations of drugging and raping women. Prosecutors suggested a nine-year prison term for Sharper under a multi-jurisdictional plea deal, but Milazzo rejected it as too lenient in June. The sentence was 15 months short of the maximum. He was also fined $20,000. Sharper pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts of distributing drugs with rape as the aim. He or his friend Brandon Licciardi, a former sheriff’s deputy in neighboring St Bernard Parish, put anti-anxiety drugs or sedatives into women’s drinks so they could rape them, according to a 15-page statement signed as part of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jill Stein on 11 key issues: Where does Green Party presidential candidate stand?

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein presents herself as a viable alternative this year to the two major-party candidates, who have the lowest approval ratings of any presidential nominees in the past seven decades. Stein, 66, of Lexington, Mass., is making her second bid for president on the Green Party ballot line. The Harvard-educated doctor received almost 500,000 votes for president in 2012, which she boasts is still the record for most votes received by a woman candidate for president in the general election. Stein says she became involved in politics more than a decade ago because she didn't like the country's direction, and had become alarmed about children becoming ill from environmental pollution and unhealthy foods they are provided. She and running mate Ajamu Baraka support a "Green New Deal" under which the government would end dependence on fossil fuels, fight climate change and create millions of new green-energy jobs. Here...
Post a Comment
Read more