Kerri Walsh Jennings eyes ‘legend of legends’ partner for Olympic beach volleyball run

Kerri Walsh Jennings wants to partner with 2000 Olympic indoor volleyball teammate Logan Tom for a beach volleyball bid for the 2024 Paris Games.

“I gave myself until June to figure out if I’m retired or not because I still have the fire in my heart,” the 43-year-old Walsh Jennings said on a podcast published last week. “If I come back, I want to play with the legend of all legends, who is Logan Tom.”

Tom, a 40-year-old, four-time Olympic indoor player now listed as a coach with Israel’s federation, has not replied to a message seeking comment last week to an email address associated with her in 2016.

“I’m trying to get her to come out to the beach and go win Paris with me, but we’ll see,” said Walsh Jennings, a three-time Olympic champion with former partner Misty May-Treanor. “It would be my dream come true. … I just have always loved Logan for her heart, discipline and love of the game. … I know we would be magic out there, so we’ll see.

Walsh Jennings has not played a tournament since missing qualification for the Tokyo Olympics last June with partner Brooke Sweat by one spot. She said on the podcast that she’s not playing so far this year “because I’m recovering from some issues.”

“I played really bad all of 2021. For the first time ever in my whole career I had a really bad season,” Walsh Jennings said.

Attempts to reach Walsh Jennings through her agent have been unsuccessful.

Tom was a U.S. indoor standout, playing her last Olympics in 2012 and continuing on the club level into at least 2019.

“She’s like Misty,” Walsh Jennings said. “She can show up after not playing for 20 years and still kill everybody.”

Tom played 27 beach volleyball tournaments between the domestic AVP and international FIVB tours in 2006 and