Tokyo beach volleyball gold medalist Alix Klineman will follow partner April Ross into retirement

AP Sports Writer

Tokyo Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Alix Klineman announced on social media on Monday she is retiring from the sport, about three weeks after her “A-Team” partner April Ross said she is moving on.

They will play their final event together at the AVP League championship in Carson, California.

Ross, 42, led Southern California to back-to-back NCAA championships in indoor volleyball before switching to the beach. She won a silver medal at the London Games, bronze in Rio and gold with Klineman in Tokyo. She had a son last year and was married in September.

“It is with a very fulfilled and grateful heart, and also some tears, that I am announcing my retirement,” Ross posted on Instagram last month. “I’m glad I can say I lived it to the fullest and that it was an absolute BLAST. At the same time, I’m in disbelief it’s (almost) over, it feels like it went by in a heartbeat.”

A four-time All-American at Stanford in indoor volleyball, the 34-year-old Klineman switched to the beach in 2017 and joined Ross to win the gold medal in Tokyo, her only Olympic experience.

In her retirement video, she recited an open letter to the sport of volleyball, saying her focus had changed since having a son, Theo, last year.

“It’s no longer just about you, volleyball. It’s not about me, either. It’s about my family. It’s about my priorities. And they’re different now,” she said. “I thought I could do both — be a mom and play. … But I can’t do both the way that I want to do both. To do that, I have to sacrifice the way that I show up for Theo, and I don’t want that.”

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports