Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly is an American volleyball player, coach, and broadcast announcer. He was a central part of the U.S National Team that won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. He went on to win the gold medal again at the 1996 Olympic Games, the first Olympic competition to feature beach volleyball. He is the only player to have won Olympic medals of any color in both the indoor and beach volleyball categories. He played college volleyball for the UCLA Bruins, where his teams won three national championships under head coach Al Scates. Kiraly is widely regarded as the greatest male volleyball player of all time.
"Jenny" Lang Ping is a Chinese former volleyball player and coach. She is the former head coach of the Chinese women's national volleyball team and U.S. women's national volleyball team. As a player, Lang won the most valuable player award in women's volleyball at the 1984 Olympics.
Logan Maile Lei Tom is an American former indoor volleyball and beach volleyball player, and is the current head coach of the Israel women's national volleyball team. She is a four-time Olympian at the outside hitter position. At age 19, Logan became the youngest woman ever to be selected for an American Olympic volleyball team when she competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. She was a skilled all-around player who brought stability to the American serve receive and defense, while also providing the team with a solid attack and block at the net. She was a huge part of the national team from 2000 to 2012. At the 2008 Olympics, Tom helped Team USA win a silver medal and was named Best Scorer, she won another silver medal at the 2012 Olympics with the national team. She was also awarded the Most Valuable Player of the 2004 FIVB World Grand Prix.
Irina Ivanovna Tolkunova is a Russian-Kazakhstani water polo player who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics for Russia and in the 2004 Summer Olympics for Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan's former long-term President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has challenged sports organizers to engage 30 percent of the country's population in sports. The state has numerous sports clubs where people participate in various types of sports; sport facilities are available to the general public. Kazakhstan currently hosts major international tournaments; Astana and Almaty hosted the VII Asian Winter Games 2011, which drew teams from 27 countries.
Foluke Atinuke Gunderson is an indoor volleyball player who plays as a middle blocker for Japanese club Hisamitsu Springs. Born in Canada, she represents the United States internationally. Gunderson won gold with the national team at the 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix, 2014 World Championship, the Rimini Volleyball Nations League, and the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, silver at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Her 2020 Olympics win allowed her to complete the trifecta of winning an Olympic bronze, silver, and gold medal.
Cecilia Roxana Tait Villacorta, more commonly known as Cecilia Tait, is a Peruvian politician and retired volleyball player. She was a key player in the rise of the Peruvian women's national volleyball team in the 1980s.
Yelena Pavlova is a retired volleyball player from Kazakhstan, born in Tashkent, who captained the Women's National Team at the 2008 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan. There the team ended up in fifth place, and qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Pavlova became "Best Scorer" at the event, alongside Puerto Rico's Karina Ocasio. In 2012-2013 she played with VC Zhetysu.
Irina Vladimirovna Kirillova, also known as Irina Parkhomchuk, is a retired competitive volleyball player and Olympic gold medalist for the Soviet Union, later competing for Croatia. Kirillova won a gold medal while representing the Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. She also led the Soviet Union to the gold medal at the 1990 FIVB World Championship in China, and was named the MVP of the tournament. She was a setter.
Jordan Quinn Larson is an American professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for the United States women's national volleyball team. A four-time Olympian, Larson earned the USA its first-ever gold in women's volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She also has two silver medals from the 2012 and 2024 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal from the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Australia women's national volleyball team, also known as Volleyball Team Australia Women (VTAW) or the Volleyroos, is the national volleyball team of the volleyball playing nation of Australia. As of January 2021, they are ranked 40th in the world. They are a member of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC).
Irina Vladimirovna Koroleva is a Russian volleyball player, who plays as a middle blocker. She is a member of the Women's National Team and has participated at the Universiade, the Montreux Volley Masters, the Women's European Volleyball Championship, the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix, the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Italy, the 2015 European Games in Baku, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Irina Lukomskaya is a Kazakhstani female volleyball player. She is a member of the Kazakhstan women's national volleyball team and played for Zhetysu Almaty in 2014. She was part of the Kazakhstani national team at the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Italy.
Inna Matveyeva is a retired Kazakhstani female volleyball player. She is a member of the Kazakhstan women's national volleyball team and played for Irtysh Kazchrome in 2014.
Tatyana Pyurova or Tatiana Piurowa was a retired Kazakhstani female volleyball player. She was part of the Kazakhstan women's national volleyball team.
Yuliya Kutsko is a Kazakhstani female volleyball player. She was part of the Kazakhstan women's national volleyball team. She competed with the national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. She played with Rahat in 2008.
Irina Andreyevna Voronkova is a Russian professional volleyball player. She is part of the Russia women's national volleyball team and was part of the national teams at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, the 2015 Montreux Volley Masters, the 2015 European Games in Baku, the 2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in Thailand, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Yelena Ezau is a Kazakhstani female volleyball player who currently plays for the Kazakhstani domestic club Altay VC in domestic league matches.
Inna German is a Kazakhstani female volleyball player.
Patty Dowdell is a retired volleyball player who primarily was on the United States women's national volleyball team from 1974 to 1980. With the national team, Dowdell and the United States finished in seventh at the 1977 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup and fifth at the 1978 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship. After playing at the 1979 Pan American Games, Dowdell was part of the American volleyball team that boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics. She resumed playing on the national team in the early 1980s and did not play any games at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Outside of the national team, Dowdell played for the Dallas Belles and Chicago Breeze in the Major League Volleyball during the late 1980s.
