What's more impressive than winning a third-straight Olympic gold medal? Winning it while five weeks pregnant. That's what American beach volleyball champ Kerri Walsh Jennings did during the London Olympics.
She re(Getty)vealed on the "Today" show that she and her husband Casey Jennings are expecting their third child. With a due date of April 9, Walsh Jennings was five weeks pregnant when winning another gold medal with longtime partner Misty May-Treanor.
Walsh Jennings said she was "moody and touchy" during the Olympics, which is odd for the normally happy-go-lucky athlete, and her period was late. Those symptoms could be attributed to the stress every athlete encounters when at the Olympics. However, May-Treanor figured it out before Walsh Jennings did, telling her partner, "You're probably pregnant."
"I thought it could have been the stress of the games and travel kind of throws your schedule off, but I knew," Walsh Jennings told host Matt Lauer. "At some point, you're late and then you start feeling something. And I definitely started feeling something in London."
Beach volleyball requires athletes to throw themselves all over the court, but Walsh Jennings said the pregnancy didn't make her hold anything back on the court. She told the "Today" show, "I gave everything I had."
This race to a gold medal was definitely the most difficult for the pair as they were up against tougher competition than in previous Olympics. They faced Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross in the finals to win their third straight Olympic gold medal.
Walsh Jennings said her husband joked that she gets a baby for every gold medal. Though May-Treanor retired after London, Walsh Jennings said she wants to play in Rio in four years. Perhaps she just wants to make sure every baby gets a medal to play with in case she and her husband go for four.
755 comments