Walsh Jennings, Kerri

Kerri Walsh Jennings, in full Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings, née Kerri Lee Walsh, (born August 15, 1978, Santa Clara, California, U.S.), American beach volleyball player who, with her partner, Misty May-Treanor, won Olympic gold medals in the event in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

Walsh grew up in an athletic family; her father played minor league baseball, and her mother had been a star volleyball player at Santa Clara University. Walsh attended Stanford University, where she played indoor volleyball and helped her team win consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) titles in 1996 and 1997; she was named national coplayer of the year in 1999. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in American studies and then moved on to play for the U.S. indoor volleyball team at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, which finished fourth overall.

Walsh teamed up on the sand in 2001 with May, who had competed in beach volleyball at the Sydney Games. Walsh and May finished with the number five ranking in the world before reaching number one in 2002. They got even better in 2003, winning a then-record 90 straight matches and all eight tournaments in which they played, including the world championships, where they upset the defending Brazilian champions in the final. That success carried over to the 2004 Athens Olympics, in which they became the first American female tandem to win gold medals in beach volleyball. Following the Athens Games, they captured two more world titles, in 2005 and 2007. Meanwhile, Walsh married volleyball player Casey Jennings in December 2005.

In 2008 Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor (Misty May had married professional baseball player Matt Treanor in 2004) competed in the Beijing Olympics. In the final match on August 21, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor ignored a steady downpour and drenched bathing suits to beat Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China 21–18, 21–18 to continue their four-year reign over women’s beach volleyball. The match was the pair’s 108th consecutive victory and their 14th straight Olympics win (they did not lose a set either in Beijing or in Athens at the 2004 Olympics). In their first post-Olympic tournament, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor extended their winning streak to 112 matches, but it came to an end on August 31 with a 21–19, 10–21, 25–23 loss to Olympic teammates Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Crocs Cup Shootout in Mason, Ohio. The defeat also ended the pair’s streak of 19 straight titles—quite an accomplishment for a team that had started playing together only in 2001. At the 2012 London Olympics, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor won a third consecutive gold medal.

May-Treanor retired after the 2012 Olympics, and Walsh Jennings then teamed with April Ross. At the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, Walsh Jennings and Ross lost in the beach volleyball semifinals (which was the first match that Walsh Jennings had ever lost in the Olympics) and finished with a bronze medal.