Beijing Olympic Games

Beach Volleyball-Baby plans could spell end for US pair

By Jane Barrett

BEIJING, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have lived through thick and thin together for eight years but the most powerful partnership in women’s beach volleyball could soon be broken up by babies.

Both U.S. players have married since they won gold at the Athens Games and while each is keen to get on with the next stage of family life, they were divided over how much they would play as mothers.

“I hope to be pregnant soon after the Games, take a year off and then come back,” said Walsh, whose husband Casey Jennings is also a professional beach volleyball player.

Walsh, who turns 30 this week, pointed to several players who took their children on tour with them, adding: “it’s great, you always have unlimited baby-sitting services.”

May-Treanor, 31, was not so sure.

“I wouldn’t take them on tour. It’s too tough. And it would be nice to see my husband a little as well,” she said.

May-Treanor is married to Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, who also spends most of the year travelling for matches.

“You never know what might happen. It’s too early to say. If I come back, I come back. If I don’t, I don’t,” she said.

Walsh and May-Treanor, triple world champions, are favourites to win a second Olympic gold in Beijing. (Editing by Alex Richardson)