| Nicole Laird | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Laird in 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 February 1993 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beach volleyball information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current teammate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Nicole Laird (born 18 February 1993) [1] is an Australian beach volleyball player. She represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Laird made her Olympic debut in Rio with her beach volleyball partner Mariafe Artacho del Solar, whom she met while studying at Killara High School. [2] The pair did not win a match in Rio, losing to the U.S., Switzerland and China in their preliminary pool matches to finish the tournament in 19th place. [3]
Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments.
Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor is an American retired professional beach volleyball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and as of August 2012, was the most successful female beach volleyball player having won 112 tournaments in domestic and international competition.
Laura Ludwig-Bowes is a German professional beach volleyball player, playing as a defender. Previously forming a pair with compatriot Kira Walkenhorst, she represents Hamburger SV and has won four European championships. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She added another medal, Gold, at the 2016 World Tour Finals in Toronto. In 2017, she and Walkenhorst won the World Championship in Vienna.
Simone Kuhn is a female professional beach volleyball player from Switzerland, who represented her native country at the beach volleyball tournaments of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In 2004, she partnered with Nicole Schnyder and lost all three pool matches. In 2008, she played alongside Lea Schwer and again lost all pool matches. In 2012, she partnered with Nadine Zumkehr and the pair reached the round of 16 where they were eliminated by the American pair of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross who went on to win silver.
Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games as a demonstration event, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996.
April Elizabeth Ross is a former American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh Jennings, and a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with Alix Klineman. Ross and Kessy were also the 2009 Beach Volleyball World Champions.
Marta Menegatti is an Italian beach volleyball player who plays as a left-side defender with her partner Viktoria Orsi Toth. With former teammate Greta Cicolari, she achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 4 in August 2012. Her career highlights include two gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals on the FIVB World Tour. She is also the 2011 European champion and the 2013 Mediterranean Games champion, both achieved with Cicolari. Menegatti represented Italy at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing fifth and ninth respectively.
Bárbara Seixas de Freitas is a Brazilian beach volleyball player, playing as a defender. In 2012, she was named FIVB top Rookie of the year. Seixas is a three-time youth World Champion and has reached the podium in several FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournaments. She won a bronze medal at the 2013 World Championships alongside her teammate Liliane Maestrini, and per 13 August 2013 they rank third among the women's money leaders with $108,875.
Kira Katharina Walkenhorst is a German retired beach volleyball player who played as a blocker. She has an older brother Alexander Walkenhorst who is a professional beach volleyball player and a younger sister Pia Walkenhorst who also plays beach volleyball.
Melissa Humaña-Paredes is a Canadian beach volleyball player, who is partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. The pair represented Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal.
Sarah Lindsey Pavan is a Canadian former beach volleyball and indoor volleyball player. She was part of the Canada women's national volleyball team at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. With Melissa Humana-Paredes, she won the women's gold medal at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Lauren Fendrick is an American beach volleyball player. She competed in beach volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics with teammate Brooke Sweat. In 2017, Fendrick and new teammate April Ross placed second at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Taliqua Clancy is an Australian volleyball and beach volleyball player who represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball, partnered with Louise Bawden. She is the first Indigenous Australian volleyball player to represent Australia at the Olympics. Clancy plays as a left-side blocker.
Nicole Carol McNamara is a Canadian beach volleyball player. Along with her twin sister, Megan McNamara, Nicole has competed in many beach volleyball events around the world. From the fall of 2015 until the spring of 2019, Megan competed collegiately for the UCLA Bruins, leading the team to its first Pac-12 and NCAA titles in the sport during the 2018 season, and a second NCAA championship in the 2019 season.
Mariafe Artacho del Solar is an Australian beach volleyball player. She represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. Artacho del Solar plays as a right-side defender. According to the Women's FIVB World Rankings, she and partner Taliqua Clancy are ranked 5th as of 21 January 2020.
The qualification for the 2016 Women's Olympic beach volleyball tournament was held from 26 June 2015 to 26 June 2016. A maximum of two teams per country were allowed to qualify. 24 teams from 17 countries qualified.
Brandie Wilkerson is a Canadian beach volleyball player who plays as a right-side blocker. She currently competes with partner Melissa Humaña-Paredes, with whom she won a silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The women's beach volleyball tournament at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, took place at the Shiokaze Park. The competition was held from 24 July to 6 August 2021. It was originally scheduled to take place from 25 July to 8 August 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced on 24 March 2020 that the 2020 Summer Olympics would be delayed to 2021. Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors. Twenty-four teams with 48 athletes from around the world competed for the gold medal.
The women's tournament was held from 28 June to 7 July.
Kristen Nuss is an American beach volleyball player, currently competing in the FIVB World Tour/Pro Beach Tour. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris with Taryn Kloth.
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