December 8, 2008

Last month, some of the world’s most influential women were honored during Glamour’s 19th annual Women of the Year awards. It was a night filled with glammed up politicians, media moguls, celebrities, athletes and activists honoring those who have made unparalleled contributions to society, politics, science, and so much more.

Among the ten honored women were Olympic gold medal winning beach volleyball players Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

According to Glamour:

The women met as teenagers, when Walsh asked her idol, May, for an autograph. In 2001 they decided to team up, and since then they have not only reached the top of the sport—they’ve taken it to a new level. Walsh, 30, and May-Treanor, 31, are the only beach volleyball players to win back-to-back gold medals, in Athens and Beijing, and did so without losing a single set.

Other honorees this year include Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Tyra Banks, Nicole Kidman, CEO of the luxury brand Chanel Maureen Chiquet, Nujood Ali, Kara Walker, and Jane Goodall.  Congrats to all!

December 3, 2008

I’m chubby and I’m pregnant and it’s awesome!” Kerri told Billy [Bush] on Wednesday morning.

And as it turns out, a gold medal wasn’t the only thing Kerri and husband Casey Jennings brought home from the games in Beijing.

This will be the first child for the couple and it comes as no surprise.  During the Olympics Walsh and her beach volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor both said that after the games they would be turning their attention to starting families with their husbands.
Congratulations Kerri!

Listen to the whole interview.

Spectators from around the world can witness sports history with the 1st Asian Beach Games now underway in Bali, Indonesia. Conceived by the Olympic Council of Asia and currently scheduled every two years, the event features athletes from 43 countries participating in 18 sports. Some of those sports are played in North America. Many of them are not. All of them are way cool.

Obvious events like beach volleyball and surfing are included as are sailing, jet skiing, paragliding and marathon swimming. Participants can compete in other hybrid sports such as beach wrestling, beach waterpolo and beach soccer.

Some of the games, such as basketball, have to be adapted in order to be played on the sand. Beach basketball is similar to the hoops we all know and love except the basket has no backboard, just a net on a pole. The court is circular and there is no out of bounds. Shots from outside the circle are worth three points. Shots from inside the circle are worth two points. Obviously there is no dribbling possible so players move the ball by passing or taking two-and-a-half steps.

The Beach Games also features several sports that may fall far outside the American sporting consciousness.

One is Beach Kabaddi, a combative sport with teams of four players who try to score points by raiding their opponent’s court and touching as many defence players as possible without getting caught on a single breath. Kind of like an adrenaline-fueled game of tag.

Beach Pentjak Silat is a combative art of fighting and survival. A martial art form that has evolved in Indonesian and Malaysian civilizations into a social culture and tradition. Competitors use hands, elbows, arms, legs, knees and feet in attacks. Common techniques include kicking, hitting, tripping, sweeps, locks, takedowns, throws, strangles, and joint breaking.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable sports of the Beach Games is Beach Sepaktakraw, a Malaysian game that combines principles of soccer and volleyball. Players touch a rattan synthetic ball across a volleyball-style net using only their feet and heads.

Dragon Boat racing is a sport where a very long and narrow boat is powered by teams of 10 to 50 paddlers. It originated in China and dragon boats are always rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails and are required to carry a large drum aboard that leads the crew throughout a race with the rhythmic beating that indicates the timing and frequency of paddling strokes, from the cadence to picking up the pace to slowing down.

Not all the contests feature female competitors. Beach wrestling, for example, is for men only this year but most of the games do welcome women participants. Windsurfing, triathlon, dragon boat racing and woodball all have female entrants.

What fun to train and what fun to participate. Clearly, these Games, which continue through Oct. 26th, are more than just a day at the beach!

Branagh and Walsh defeated their compatriots 21-18, 21-19 for the championship.  The pair shared the  $28,000 first-place prize while Boss and Ross split $19,500 for the silver medal finish.

In winning her 38th international gold medal, Walsh tied longtime partner Misty May-Treanor for the most titles at FIVB-sanctioned events.

October 6, 2008

“Misty May-Treanor sustained an injury on Friday and received immediate medical attention,” show producers told Access on Saturday in a statement. “Despite previous reports, she did not break her ankle. She is resting comfortably at home. Doctors will reevaluate her condition on Monday and determine the outcome of her participation on the show.”

Star Magazine reported that Misty broke her ankle cutting her out of the Dancing With the Stars competition completely.

The two-time beach volleyball Olympic champion suffered the injury on Friday afternoon when rehearsing with her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy at a dance studio in L.A.

She entered Cedars Sinai hospital in the late afternoon and was given a cast.

“I had problems with this ankle in March so I knew it was delicate, but I just can’t believe it broke and I am off the show now!” a devastated Misty told Star.

Since two Olympic gold medalists had previously won “Dancing with the Stars” Misty was an obvious pick to succeed this season.

She may not have been as fleet on the ballroom as she had been on the beach but she did have some consistent scores. Now her involvement in the show is up in the air.

On the official Dancing With The Stars message board, rumors are running rampant.  Some posters suggest Misty is definitely out of the competition, but ABC doesn’t want to confirm it, because they want people tuning in to the show tonight to find out.

Who will take Misty’s place if she is forced out of the competition?  One rumor suggests that Misty’s volleyball partner Kerri Walsh will be stepping in to dance with Maks though that seems unlikely.

Another rumor is that Kim Kardashian will be returning to the competition. If Kardashian does return, will she partner with Mark Ballas or switch partners and dance with Maksim Chmerkovskiy instead?

Guess we’ll just have to tune in to find out.  Whatever happens, we wish Misty a speedy recovery!

(Editors Note: Official word is that Misty ruptured her Achilles tendon rehearsing the jive (double ouch) and will need surgery and about nine months of physical rehabilitation.)

The comedian Jeffrey Ross along with his professional partner, Edyta Sliwinska,  was the first star eliminated from the seventh season of ABC’s dancing competition.

WNBA: No easy victories in the WNBA Playoffs.  Sue Bird scored 20 points, Sheryl Swoopes added 16, and the Seattle Storm beat the Los Angeles Sparks 64-50 Sunday to force a Game 3 in the Western Conference semifinal series. The final game in the best-of-three series will be played Tuesday in Seattle.

Tamika Catchings had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and the Indiana Fever topped the Detroit Shock in overtime to force a third game in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Auburn Hills.

In other playoff news, the Sacramento Monarchs and Connecticut Sun both forced a decisive game three on Saturday in their WNBA playoff series. The Monarchs easily topped the San Antonio Silver Stars 84-67 in the Western Conference playoffs, while the Sun withstood a late New York Liberty rally to win 73-70 in the Eastern Conference. Both of these series will be decided tonight.

Tennis:  Dinara Safina lost a total of just five games in the final two rounds of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, winning her fourth title of the year at the Tier I event. She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. With the win, Safina moves up to #3 seed behind Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic.

Beach Volleyball: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won in Manhattan Beach for fourth straight time. The number one seeds finished the season with a two set victory over No. 4 seed Jennifer Boss and April Ross 21-18 and 21-16.  From Walsh heading to next week’s Glendale Open to try to become the Best of the Beach to May-Treanor starting competition on Dancing with the Stars, these two are ready to start the next chapters of their lives.

Track & Field:  Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper of the United States won the 100-meter hurdles in 12.56 seconds at the Golden Grand Prix in Shanghai. Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica won the women’s 100 in 11.01 and world record-holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia won the pole vault at 15 feet 1 after three failed tries at 15-7.

August 31, 2008

With the loss, the two-time Olympic champions’ historic winning streak ended at 112 consecutive match victories and 19 consecutive titles. They last lost on Aug. 19, 2007, also to Branagh and Youngs who now earn some much deserved respect for beating the seemingly unbeatable pair.

The final took 1 hours, 45 minutes, making it the second longest women’s match in AVP history, missing the record by just a minute. May-Treanor and Walsh dropped to 10-2 in finals matches against Branagh and Youngs.

Off the sand, be sure to catch Misty May-Treanor competing on one of our fave guilty pleasure TV shows -  “Dancing with the Stars” which has it’s season premiere Sept. 22nd.

August 12, 2008

 Walsh, who is married to fellow beach volleyball pro and former NCAA champion Casey Jennings, lost the ring when she went up for a block in Sunday morning’s match against Japan’s Mika Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara.

Some 17,000 tons of sand were brought into Chaoyang Park to create the beach volleyball venue, so if finding the ring wasn’t exactly a needle in a haystack, it was close. A video replay of the play helped narrow the search but volunteers rake the sand during the match, so that ring could have literally gone anywhere.

Despite the loss of gold, Walsh maintained her composure (one of the many differences between us) allowing her and teammate Misty May-Treanor go on and beat Japan.  Hopefully, there is more gold to come for the pair.

Beach Volleyball:
Branagh, Youngs Win Opening Olympic Match - The U.S. beach volleyball team of Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.), ranked fifth, won their opening match of the Olympic Games on Saturday, defeating Netherland’s 20th-seeded Rebekka Kadijk and Merel Mooren, 21-19, 27-25, at the beach volleyball venue in Chaoyang Park.

Fencing:
Zagunis Wins Gold, U.S. Women Sweep Sabre - Mariel Zagunis reclaimed the gold medal in a repeat of her 2004 performance in Athens. Zagunis defeated teammate Sada Jacobson 15-8 to claim the gold. The U.S. women completed an historic sweep of the medals as teammate Rebecca Ward earlier won a closely contested bronze medal match.

Soccer:
U.S. women sneak past Japan 1-0 Midfielder Carli Lloyd scored on a first-half volley to lead the U.S. women’s soccer team to a 1-0 win over Japan and put the Americans’ Olympic title defense back on track at the Beijing Games.