Sheilla Castro was one of the top volleyball players from Brazil. She represented her native country at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. For both those events, her team won the gold medal. She ended up playing again in 2016, but that time her team placed fifth.
Following her loss at the 2016 Summer Olympics, she announced that she would be retiring from the national team. However, she would continue to play on other teams and in other events up until April 2022, when she announced she would be retiring from volleyball completely. Now she is active on social media, regularly posting old photos of herself on the volleyball court, as well as more recent pictures of her family.
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Ana Carolina da Silva is an indoor Brazilian volleyball player who ended up on the Brazil women's national volleyball team in 2013. She played her first major event at the 2013 Club World Championship, winning a silver, and the next year won bronze at the 2014 World Championship.
Why she continues to compete as a world champion, she has yet to participate in a Summer Olympics. She regularly earns individual titles such as “Best Blocker” and “Best Middle Blocker” – an award she just earned in 2022 at the World Championship. Proving she’s one of the top players in the game, she has many more years of success ahead of her.
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Chiaka Ogbogu is an American volleyball player who plays for both the Vakifbank SK team and the United States women's volleyball team. She has been a participant of the 2018 Pan American Cup, as well as the 2018 and 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League. Having played volleyball since high school, she certainly knows what she’s doing.
Chiaka Ogbogu was included on the 12-player roster that went to the 2020 Summer Olympics. She and her team won the gold medal for their efforts, which was undoubtedly a dream come true for the athlete. Currently, she’s a 2021–22 CEV Women's Champions League Champion. Her Instagram has over 37K followers.
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Alessia Orro is an Italian volleyball player who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics as well as the 2019 Montreux Volley Masters. In addition to these competitions, she played for the 2022 Poland/Netherlands team for the FIVB World Championship as well as the 2022 Ankara team. She was voted “Best Setter” in the FIVB Nations League.
While she doesn’t have the most competitions under her belt, she’s certainly proving herself year after year. She has nearly 150K followers on her Instagram account and she has plenty of fans showing her support. On top of her photos on the court, her account shows plenty of personal photos as well, including photos with her beloved dogs.
(Image via: Instagram; Luponr3, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Gabriela Guimaraes is another indoor Brazilian volleyball player who is at the top of her game. Playing mainly as an outside spiker, she competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics and took home the silver medal for the women’s tournament. Most recently, she was awarded “Best Outside Hitter” for the 2022 FIVB World Championship.
When asked about the best moment of her career at the 2020 Olympics, Guimaraes said, “There’s no doubt I feel like I’m in the best moment of my career. Today, at 28-years-old, I feel much more mature and experienced. I still have a lot to learn but many people have asked me whether I feel like I'm the best player in the world today. I don’t consider myself to be the best player in the world. I think it’s crazy to say that because we have great players like Paola Egonu and Jordan Larson. So to be considered the best in the world, I would need to reach an even higher level.”
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Arina Fedorovtseva is a Russian volleyball player, just 18 years of age. She plays for the Fenerbahçe women’s volleyball team and is a member of the Russia women's national volleyball team. Having joined the team in 2021, she made her debut at the 2021 FIVB Nations League and also competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The Russian national team member has a fairly active social media with over 203K followers on her Instagram. She regularly posts selfies as well as other professional and personal photos. Where will the young player end up next? Only time will tell but she has many years of success ahead of her, no doubt.
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Maxim Mikhaylov is easily one of the top male Russian volleyball players in the world. He’s a member of both the Russian men's national volleyball team and the Russian club VC Zenit-Kazan. He earned a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and then a bronze at the 2008 Olympics.
In addition to his Olympic victories, he’s also earned five medals for the FIVB Club World Championships, eight medals for the CEV Champions League and has earned the MVP title several times during his career. He has a large following on Instagram with over 45K followers on his account. And thus far, this all-time great is showing no signs he’s ready to retire.
(Image via: Instagram; Catholympique from Mandelieu, France, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Louisa Lippmann is one of the best German volleyball players, if not one of the very best players in the world. She has made over 100 appearances for the German women's national volleyball team and has played in numerous international competitions. Having joined the team in 2013, she’s been playing for the team for nearly a decade.
Lippmann’s last major victory was the 2020–21 Russian Championship in which her team won the gold medal. Ass she continues her successful career, she has many victories to look forward to. You can follow her on her Instagram account, which currently has over 64K followers.
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Jordan Larson is a three-time Olympic medalist who won gold in the 2020 Summer Olympics, silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics. The American volleyball player now has one medal of every color, so what’s next for her? Is there another Olympics in her future?
In May of 2021, Larson was on the 18-player roster for the FIVB Volleyball Nations League tournament and her team took home the gold for the third time in a row. She was then named to the 12-player roster for the 2020 Olympics that took place in 2021, but Larson indicated that the Olympics would indeed be her last as she was already the fifth oldest volleyball player in US history.
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Ivan Zaytsev is an Italian volleyball player of Russian ethnicity. As the captain of the team, he plays an integral role in the Italy men's national volleyball team. He was a bronze medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a silver medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Additionally, he’s earned a silver medal twice for the European Championship.
Ivan Zaytsev was the son of Olympic Champion volleyball player Vyacheslav Zaytsev and was born in Spoleto, where his father was playing. His mother, Irina Pozdnyakova, was a competitive swimmer. Today, Ivan is a family man, married to Ashling Sirocchi. The couple has three children together: a son named Alexander, and two daughters – Sienna and Nausicaa.
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Kelsey Robinson has been making America proud as a member of the United States Women’s Olympic team since 2014. She and her fellow teammates made history for our country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when the United States brought home the gold for the first time in the sport’s history.
When she’s not going for the gold, Robinson is currently a member of Imoco Volley, an Italian women’s professional volleyball club. However, in her long and successful career, she’s played for clubs across the globe—including in Japan, China, Turkey, and Puerto Rico. Combined with her numerous award wins, you won’t find many people more talented than Robinson.
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Mexican volleyball star Samantha Bricio made waves in 2010 when she became the youngest player to ever join the Mexican national team at age 15. Things have only gone up for Bricio since those early days, and she’s now one of the most well-known volleyball players in the world.
In college, Bricio played for the University of Southern California, and, during her time there, she managed to rack up a staggering 15 award wins, including PAC-12 Freshman of the Year, and the AVCA National Player of the Year. Most recently, she played from 2020-2022 for the Dynamo Kazan, a women’s volleyball club in Kazan, Russia.
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Most people head to the beach for a day of fun in the sun, but not Laura Ludwig! When she hits the beach, she’s all business, which is probably why the German athlete is one of the most well-known beach volleyball players in the world. She made her Olympic debut with the German national team at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
More recently, she and her volleyball partner, Margareta Kozuch, competed in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, but they had a heartbreaking loss in the quarter-final round. However, don’t expect this to keep her down for long! We’re sure that her Olympic days aren’t behind her yet, and we bet there is a medal in her future.
(Images via Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images, Instagram)
Saori Kimura is a Japanese volleyball star who has a world-renowned profile. She competed in four consecutive summer Olympic games (2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016), with one bronze medal win in 2012. She was a particularly in-demand player because she had the skills to succeed at most positions on the court.
From 2014 until 2017, Kimura played for the Toray Arrows, a women’s volleyball team out of Otsu, Japan. Her individual and team-based awards are too numerous to mention, but let’s just say that her talents as an athlete have not gone overlooked by fans and commentators. Unfortunately, she recently announced her retirement, and the volleyball world will never be the same without her.
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Francesca Piccini is an Italian volleyball star who is no stranger to the Olympic games. She represented her country in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, and she was also a member of the national Italian team when they won the 2002 world championship. It’s no wonder she’s won multiple MVP awards!
Aside from the Olympics, Piccini has also been a member of multiple professional volleyball clubs in her home country, and she currently plays for Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio, where she’s been since 2020. What’s next for the volleyball star? We have no idea, but we bet there is a gold medal in her future!
(Images via JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images, Instagram)
Beach volleyball might look like a lot of fun, but it’s serious business for the athletes involved. One of the most decorated players in the game is American April Ross. She’s competed for the United States in three Olympic games at this point and managed to nab a medal at each one!
She’s played for clubs in the past, including the Puerto Rican team, the Ponce Leonas, from 2004 to 2006, but these days it seems like she’s much more interested in going for the gold for the American beach volleyball team. We expect her to have a great showing at the 2024 Olympics.
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Kerri Walsh Jennings has been winning medals and breaking records since the beginning of her beach volleyball career. Currently, she is the beach volleyball player with the most career victories, with a whopping 135 wins from both national and international tournaments. She and her teammate, Misty May-Treanor, also previously held the record for the longest winning streak, with almost 120 consecutive wins.
When it comes to the Olympics, Jennings dominates there as well. She currently has three gold medals for her performances in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics. She also managed to bring home a bronze medal for the 2016 games. For most athletes, that would be enough, but it seems like Jennings is just getting started!
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Tijana Boskovic is an athlete from Serbia who wowed the world with her volleyball prowess as a rare left-handed player. She’s competed with the national Serbian team at multiple world championships and managed to bring home the gold every time. She’s particularly known for her ability to rack up high numbers of points for her team.
Boskovic has also participated in the Olympics with the Serbian team in both 2016 and 2020, where she took home the silver and bronze, respectively. After a major championship win in 2022 (as well as an MVP award), there’s no telling what is in store next for this athletic Serbian wonder.
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Jordyn Poulter might be relatively new to the world of professional volleyball, but she’s already managed to make a name for herself at just 25 years of age. During her college career at the University of Illinois, Poulter was nominated All-American twice and was also the Big Ten Setter of the Year.
Shortly after her graduation in 2018, Poulter joined the United States Olympic team, which won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Although an ankle injury kept her out of play for several early rounds, Poulter helped lead her team to victory in both the semifinals and finals.
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Isabelle Haak may only be 23, but she’s already rising through the ranks of professional volleyball stardom. The athlete began playing as a teenager with youth clubs in her home country of Sweden, and when she played with the senior team in 2014, she became the youngest Swedish volleyball player to have the honor.
These days, Haak no longer plays for Sweden but instead plays for the Imoco Volley Italian women’s volleyball club. The only thing left for this volleyball superstar is to make her debut at the Olympics, and we have a feeling she’ll probably be bringing home a medal or two when she finally does make it!
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