| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 a retired American 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.
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. The United States is the only country to win medals in every edition.
April Elizabeth Ross is an 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.
Nadine Zumkehr is a Swiss beach volleyball player. As of 2012, she played with Simone Kuhn. The pair participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics tournament and were eliminated in the round of 16 by the American pair of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross who went on to win silver.
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 retired German 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 Humana-Paredes is a Canadian beach volleyball player, who is partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. Humana-Paredes won the women's gold medal with Sarah Pavan at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Karen Cope Charles is a beach volleyball and volleyball player from Costa Rica who played the 2006 and 2010 FIVB indoor World Championships and the 2015 World Championships and the 2016 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball.
Sarah Lindsey Pavan is a Canadian beach volleyball and former 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.
Viktoria Orsi Toth is an Italian beach volleyball player who plays as a right-side blocker. With partner Marta Menegatti, she achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 7 in June 2016. Her career highlights include two gold, three silver and two bronze medals on the FIVB World Tour.
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.
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 around the world competed for the gold medal.
The women's tournament was held from 28 June to 7 July.
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