For Kerri Walsh Jennings, probably the most adorned seashore volleyball Olympian of all-time, there is no questioning the non-public drive she’s had all through her illustrious profession to come back away with such accomplishments.
However like many Olympians earlier than her, and people competing on the 2024 Paris Games now, the belief that you just’re competing for one thing greater than your self was felt instantly for Walsh Jennings at her first Video games in Athens in 2004.
And although she wasn’t competing in Paris this 12 months, Walsh Jennings felt sturdy patriotism from these athletes she did encounter and watch throughout her time abroad.
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Kerri Walsh Jennings attends the Parity Paris Present at Opera Garnier on July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Photos)
“I did. It’s simply one thing particular,” Walsh Jennings instructed Fox Information Digital when requested whether or not she felt the satisfaction for the USA in Paris. “You see Scottie Scheffler when he received, and watching Workforce USA basketball, and so they’re celebrities of the sport. They’re so touched to be representing USA.”
Walsh Jennings even famous that Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam title winner in tennis, was overcome by feelings after profitable the gold medal in males’s singles.
It means a lot for each athlete to carry residence the valuable medals for his or her nation, however after securing three golds and a bronze for her profession, Walsh Jennings believes it is that a lot totally different to symbolize the Stars and Stripes.
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“I feel within the Olympic motion, Workforce USA is a shining gentle, and we’re one thing to succeed in for, I feel, in all of the world,” she defined. “America is a shining gentle, and I feel that’s a duty that I don’t take calmly, and I don’t take without any consideration.”
Walsh Jennings was spotlighted all through her three-peat in ladies’s seashore volleyball alongside her associate, Misty Could-Treanor. The dynamic duo had been stars within the Olympics, and Walsh Jennings understood the duty of elevated media protection and superstar – she needed to carry residence the gold.
After all, any athlete will wish to notch that achievement on their private bucket record. However Walsh Jennings mentioned she wasn’t simply fascinated by herself all these instances she wore “USA” throughout her swimsuit on the court docket.
Gold medallists Misty Could-Treanor (L) and Kerri Walsh Jennings rejoice on the rostrum in the course of the medal ceremony for the Ladies’s Seashore Volleyball on Day 12 of the London 2012 Olympic Video games on the Horse Guard’s Parade on August 8, 2012, in London, England. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Photos)
“For me, one thing that simply bolstered my spirit and my resiliency was the truth that I used to be honored to have the possibility to symbolize our nation,” she mentioned. “Each time I took the court docket within the Olympics, I’d invite in my spirit and coronary heart, my nation to be with me. All of the service members who symbolize us, my entire household, my ancestors. Everybody who simply helped me get there, and I introduced them with me in my coronary heart, and that’s an enormous deal.
“To have the ability to symbolize my nation and put my hand on my coronary heart and listen to our anthem 3 times with Misty, and be capable of battle for bronze with April [Ross], that was superb.”
Walsh Jennings additionally believes the Olympics reminds these in the USA, irrespective of whether or not you are an athlete on the Video games or cheering on those that symbolize you, that American satisfaction is rarely one thing to let go of.
“It’s OK to be happy with the place you’re from,” she mentioned. “No nation is ideal. Embrace the nice, and once I take a look at that [American] flag, our nation just isn’t our politics – it’s our individuals and our spirit. I feel that’s on show within the Olympics.
Olympians Kerri Walsh Jennings and Summer season Sanders converse onstage on the USA Home at Paris 2024 on July 27, 2024, in Paris, France. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Photos for USOPC.)
“Workforce USA all the time comes out with quite a lot of medals, and greater than that, there’s simply so many shows of braveness and resiliency and all the pieces America is made up of. The gamers and the athletes appear to know that, and that makes me very proud.”
The satisfaction of taking residence Olympic medals shall be even higher in 2028, when the Summer season Video games return to Los Angeles.
“Santa Monica was it,” Walsh Jennings, who partnered with Santa Monica Travel & Tourism forward of the boys’s and ladies’s seashore finals in Paris, mentioned. “The sand is deep, it’s very clear, and it’s simply the place you wish to be, as a result of all the nice ones performed there, educated there and lower their enamel there. For me, as a younger athlete arising, Santa Monica was an enormous a part of journey for changing into wonderful. Looking forward to 2028, I do know we’re going to have 4 superb groups representing our nation.”
Walsh Jennings will hope these women and men can stand on the rostrum, place their hand over their coronary heart, and bask within the nationwide anthem enjoying with gold round their necks like she did. It is uncooked feelings in these moments, figuring out you have made your self and your nation proud.
Kerri Walsh Jennings of the USA celebrates profitable bronze in the course of the Seashore Volleyball Ladies’s Bronze medal match towards Larissa Franca Maestrini and Talita Rocha of Brazil on day 12 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Video games on the Seashore Volleyball Area on August 17, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Photos)
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She is probably not competing, however Walsh Jennings is happy with the place she comes from, and can all the time be rooting for these representing her flag.
“The Olympic spirit, to me, is what I’m product of. And the American spirit,” she mentioned.
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