U.S. Olympic Volleyball Players Misty May-Treanor And Kerri Walsh Make Comeback

by UInterviewAugust 1, 2012, 12:00 am >

U.S. Olympic greats Misty May-Treanor, 35, and Kerri Walsh, 33, who have been commonly dubbed the greatest beach volleyball duo of all time, squared off against the Czech Republic on Monday in a chilly nighttime match that encouraged the two-time gold medalists to trade in their bikinis for more comfortable full-body Lycra.

Walsh and May-Treanor have never lost an Olympic match, and Monday night, which was May-Treanor's birthday, was no exception. Though they were out of sync from not having played together since Beijing, when their partnership ended and they ostensibly retired to start a family and focus on teaching, respectively, the duo still managed to beat the Czechs, who held their own, as the finishing scores of the two sets, 21-14 and 21-19, demonstrated.

"We were in a funk, mentally," said Walsh, reports the San Francisco Gate. "It wasn't physical at all, we were just in a weird place. I think we were just wanting it so bad and trying to be so perfect we just lost our way a little bit …. But we worked really hard."

Despite their long history and stellar track record, which includes a 101-match winning streak when they went into the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, these Olympic games really do spell the end for Walsh and May-Treanor, the latter of whom says she will definitely retire after this, and even claims to be feeling the effects of her Achilles tendon, which she hurt dancing with Maksim Chmerkovskiy on Season 7 of Dancing with the Stars.

"And that's really heavy, in a beautiful way," Walsh says about the end of her era with May-Treanor. "We just want to go out on top, then cry all we want."

After so many years together, Walsh feels like May-Treanor is family. "Misty and I are married. I have two amazing partners, my husband, Casey, and Misty … I've known her so long and I'm so close to her," she said.

For more on the 2012 London Olympics:

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U.S. Olympic Gymnast McKayla Maroney

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Diver Kristian Ipsen Is 'Not Wearing Much'

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympian Phil Dalhausser's 'Late Start' At Beach Volleyball

EXCLUSIVE: Olympian Jessica Hardy Swims 2.5 Hours Every Morning

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Gymnast Jonathan Horton On The London Games

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Gymnast Jordyn Wieber On Training For London Games

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Sprinter Wallace Spearmon On Losing His Medal In Beijing — And Winning Gold In London

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