BEACH volleyball is an incredibly competitive team sport where two players are on each side of a sand court.
Some female players have ruled the sandy court for decades – but who are some of the top beach volleyball champs of all time?
Talita Antunes of Brazil try to save the ball during the Women’s Bronze medal match between Brazil and Canada[/caption]
Antunes competes in the Women’s Pool D match[/caption]
Talita Antunes
Brazilian Talita Antunes is ranked the best beach volleyball player of all time due to having an incredible 6287.25 points.
The star was spotted for the game at only 19 by an Olympic Champion Jackie Silva.
They played together in 2001 and invited the Antunes to partner with her in 2002.
That year, the dynamic duo amazingly won the South American Championship.
Silva sadly became injured which led Antunes to continue the 2002 season with Renata Ribeiro.
Together they won the championships in the Challenger Banco do Brasil.
After having various other partners, in 2005 she continued with Ribeiro and was voted FIVB World Tour rookie of the year.
By 2008, world-class Antunes was crowned Queen of the Beach in Brazil.
The following year Antunes had a new partnership with Maria Elisa Antonelli and together they won gold in the 2009 Swatch FIVB World Tour in China, South Korea, Switzerland and Norway.
This incredible partnerhsip led the two to be No.2 in the World Ranking in 2009.
As Antunes and Antonelli went into the 2012 Summer Olympics, they sadly didn’t leave with any medals.
Soon Antunes had a new partner Taiana Lima and won the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour for the first time ever in 2013.
As the 2016 Summer Olympics came around, the star was partnered with Larissa Franca, a former world champion who had won bronze in London.
The pair sadly didn’t win any medals, but Antunes has a long career in winning world championships and finals.
America’s Kerri Walsh Jennings is thought to be one of the best beach volleyball players of all time[/caption]
Kerri Walsh Jennings of United States celebrates during the Women’s Beach Volleyball preliminary round Pool C match[/caption]
Kerri Walsh Jennings
America’s Kerri Walsh Jennings is thought to be one of the best beach volleyball players of all time.
Born in 1978, the star is a three-time Olympic gold medallist and one-time bronze.
Walsh Jennings and teammate Misty May-Treanor were America’s gold medallists in beach volleyball in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Not only this, but they won the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships a staggering three times – in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Walsh Jennings was born in Santa Clara, Florida and grew up in Scotts Valley.
Before starting high school, she and her family moved to San Jose.
At high school she competed on the volleyball and basketball teams where she led the teams to three state championships in volleyball in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
By 1996 she was named Gatorade National High School Volleyball Player of the Year – the first time the award was ever given.
And in an unbelievable play of events, she actually played against her future beach doubles partner Misty May-Trainor in high school.
Walsh Jennings attended the prestigious Stanford University on a volleyball scholarship where she got selected as a first-team All-America four years in a row.
Not only was she a star player but an academic one too, graduating in 2001 with a BA in American Studies.
Walsh Jennings and her playing partner May-Treanor began their careers together in 2001, ending the season with the number five ranking in the world.
In 2002 they unbelievably gained the ultra-prestigious No. 1 world ranking and continued their beach volleyball dominance in 2003.
Here they won eight tournaments and 90 straight matches.
They even won in the world championships against Brazil who had been notorious world winners.
In 2012, Walsh teamed with April Ross following May’s retirement.
Walsh Jennings hen went on to break the career record for most wins by a female professional volleyball player.
After various stints and attempts to qualify for future Olympics, Walsh Jennings officially retired from Olympic attempts in 2023 – but she is not retired from all play.
In fact, in February 2023 she announced plans to return to the sport with a new partner Logan Tom.
In terms of Walsh Jennings’ home life, in 2005 she married American pro beach volleyball player Casey Jennings.
They have three children together – two sons and a daughter.
Misty May-Treanor of the United States in action during the 2012 Swatch FIVB World Tour Beijing Grand Slam pool D match[/caption]
Misty May-Treanor (R) and Kerri Walsh of U.S celebrate after winning their women’s beach volleyball semifinal match against China[/caption]
Misty May-Treanor
Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh Jenning’s beach volleyball partner, is also renowned as one of the best players of all time.
May-Treanor holds the same Olympic medals as Walsh Jennings and as of August 2012 was the most successful female beach volleyball player.
She won an unbelievable 112 tournaments in domestic and international competitions.
May-Treanor was born in 1977, with her dad being a member of the 1968 men’s national volleyball team.
Growing up playing beach volleyball with her parents at the Santa Monica Pier, by the star was eight years old May-Treanor teamed with her dad to take part in her first beach volleyball tournament.
In high school, May-Treanor pushed her team to win the state championship in volleyball in both her sophomore and senior years – 1992 and 1994.
The volleyball champ played for the Long Beach State 49ers and captained the first women’s NCAA volleyball season with no defeats.
May-Treanor graduated with a BA in kinesiology and fitness in 2022.
After a massively successful career alongside Kerri Walsh Jennings, she retired after the pair’s gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
May-Treanor wed professional baseball catcher Matt Treanor in 2004 and they share three girls together.
Australia’s Kerry Pottharst, left, and Natalie Cook, right[/caption]
Kerry Pottharst, right, and Natalie Cook, left, celebrate their gold medal in women’s beach volleyball[/caption]
Natalie Cook
Beach volleyball player Natalie Cook became the first Australian woman to ever compete at five Olympic Games.
Born in Queensland in 1975, Cook soon took off in the volleyball world, captaining the Australian Indoor Junior team in 1992.
By 1993 she had gotten into beach volleyball so much so she gave up her drive of receiving a medical degree in 1994.
Cook was partnered with Kerri Pottharst who she won bronze with at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics – the first time beach volleyball had ever been an Olympic sport.
That same year the dynamic duo won a silver medal at the world championships before coming first in the World Tour Event in Japan.
Cook and Pottharst went a few years without playing with each other again before reuniting in 2000.
The pair came third in the World Tour Events before going into the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.
Here they won gold and consequently were awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.
Following the Olympics, Pottharst announced her retirement and Cook partnered with Nicole Sanderson.
Together they won a bronze medal at the 2003 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.
By the end of the 2003 world tour in fact, the pair were unbelievably ranked fourth in the world.
This led them to be selected for the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing Australia – but they sadly didn’t win any medals.
For the 2008 Olympics, Cook was with Tamsin Barnett and finished fifth overall.
But by 2012, the star’s Olympic career came to an end after being eliminated in London.
Cook lives in Brisbane and is married to a fellow beach volleyball player Sarah Maxwell.
America’s Holly McPeak, one of the favorites[/caption]
Holly McPeak
American indoor and beach volleyball player Holly McPeak is a three-times Olympian and has a whopping 72 career beach volleyball titles.
McPeak won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics with her partner Elaine Youngs.
The star is also considered rather short for a beach volleyball player at 5ft7.
Born in 1969 and raised in California, McPeak was a legendary high school volleyball player, with her team the Mustangs going undefeated en route to win the state championship.
The team finished with an unbelievable record of 29-0.
Dubbed “the most coveted setter in the country” by Volleyball Monthly magazine, McPeak was offered scholarships from the UCLA Bruins and the Golden Bears of Berkeley.
The legend chose the heavily academic Berkeley, but here she had a turbulent time on the team.
McPeak endured conflicts with her coach and after her junior season in 1989, the coach banned her from the team.
Due to the turbulence experienced at Berkeley, McPeak was approved to transfer over to UCLA for her senior season.
With McPeak in the team, the 1990 UCLA Bruins won the NCAA collegiate championship.
At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, McPeak partnered with Misty May-Treanor who won through the first two rounds before eventually losing and finishing tied for fifth place.
In 2004 Summer Olympics McPeak was partnered with Elaine Young’s were they won their first Olympic medal.
After a hugely successful career being ranked in the top 10 six times on the AVP tour and seven times on the FIVB – and being one in five women worldwide to have competed in the first three Olympics in beach volleyball – she officially retired in 2009.
McPeak is married to former AVP commissioner Leonard Armato, who she has three sons with.
Laura Ludwig at the London 2012 Olympics[/caption]
Laura Ludwig
German beach volleyballer Laura Ludwig is considered to be one of the best defense players of all time.
Fans claim she is one of the best players to watch in a game due to her sharp responses.
Ludwig won the World Tour’s Best Defensive Player in 2013 and 2017.
She is also one of the only players in the world to ever score from her defence.
The star is renowned for returning opponents’ spikes directly back to their courts.
Ludwig was born in East Berlin and has had an incredible career.
She was first paired with Kana Johler who she won the U18 European Championship and the U18 World Championship with.
Ludwig survived a stroke which nearly finished her career but jumped straight back into beach volleyball with a new partner Sara Goller.
The two became 2006 German champions, winning the U23 European Championships.
By 2007 they kept the German title and won silver in the European Championships, leading the German women’s ranking.
In 2013 Ludwig had a new beach partner Kira Walkenhorst who won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Ludwig is a three-time Olympian known for her aggressive play style and is not yet retired.
