Colorado Springs, USA, June 28, 2013 – Olympic silver medallist and 2009 world champion Jennifer Kessy says she is not retiring from beach volleyball and plans to be back on the international scene.
Kessy, 35, took a medical withdrawal from the 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships to be held in Stare Jablonki, Poland from July 1 to 7 putting in doubt her long term future in the sport.
“I’ve had some hip issues and I had an Achilles issue in the Brazil World Cup Final that was caused by the hip problem,” Kessy said. “I need to take a break. Sadly it came during World Championships, but I didn’t want to do any further permanent damage.”
Kessy’s partner April Ross, 31, with whom she won the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, will compete at the World Championships with 29-year-old Whitney Pavlik.
Kessy said she will most likely miss the FIVB Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland (July 9-14) – where three-time Olympic champion Kerri Walsh is registered to return from having her third child to play alongside Ross - but plans to compete with Ross at the Grand Slam in Long Beach, USA on July 22-27 and in more events during the 2013 season.
“I’m not retiring,” Kessy said. “I do eventually want to slow down and spend more time with my husband (French beach volleyball player Andy Cès, whom she married in March), but April and I are still playing together. I really wanted to try to win another World Championship.”
Kessy and Ross won the 2009 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Stavanger, Norway.
As a team they have medalled at 32 FIVB beach volleyball events, including 10 gold medals. Most recently, they took silver on June 23 at the Rome Grand Slam.