Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh: Dynamic Duo Set to Dominate Beach Volleyball

The US has their fair share of dominant athletes. One such team expected to do well in London is the beach volleyball duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. 

The two have already sifted through would-be champions in Athens and Beijing, giving them two gold medals and lone placement as best in the world. 

Every athlete knows nothing lasts forever, and spry legs begin to ache at some point. Family obligations and age make the London Olympics equally important for a team that may be on their last lap of dominance. 

ESPN has a video that encapsulates all of this. 

May-Treanor was well into retirement and had suffered an Achilles injury on Dancing with the Stars back in 2008. 

Walsh, who is now married to volleyball player Casey Jennings and goes by Walsh-Jennings, was with another teammate during her former partner's layoff.  

Walsh-Jennings was playing with Nicole Branagh at the time, and had to end that union so she could go one more lap with a woman who she won two gold medals with. 

It may be eight years after the two took Athens by storm, feeding off nervous energy and the drive to prove to the world their mettle, but this Olympics will be no less important to the two. 

Both games have been different to each. Athens was a proving ground, Beijing means to hit cruise control and dominate. 

They are back to the proving ground, forced to show they still matter. Walsh-Jennings put it best, via ESPN. 

Misty said we have nothing left to prove because we have done so many great things, but I want to prove to the world that we're the best in 2012. I feel like if we win a third gold medal, when we win a third gold medal in London, it will put us in that realm. We'll be the best there ever was in beach volleyball, and I just want that. I want us to do it because we're capable.

I want us to do it because we just have it in us.

Misty is 34-years-old, married to LA Dodgers catcher Matt Treanor, and has already retired once, albeit briefly, from the sport she is so passionate about. 

Walsh-Jennings is 33-years-old and has two sons with her husband, having them within a year apart. There are plenty of reasons to think this is the last pairing of the most dynamic duo we have seen in beach volleyball. 

If this is the end, we will savor every last bit of the diminutive dynamo that is Misty May-Treanor feeding her lanky pugilist in Kerri Walsh-Jennings. 

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