Jānis Šmēdiņš

Jānis Šmēdiņš
portrait
birthday	July 31, 1987
place of birth	Kuldīga, Latvian SSR
size	1.91 m
Indoor volleyball
position	External attack / adoption
societies
2009–2011 2011–2012	SK Riga SCC Berlin Moerser SC
successes
2010 - 3rd place Challenge Cup 2011 - German runner-up
beach volleyball
partner	until 2008 Toms Šmēdiņš 2008–2009 various 2010–2012 Mārtiņš Pļaviņš since 2013 Aleksandrs Samoilovs
World ranking	Position 6
successes
2002 - U18 Vice European Champion 2005 - U20 European Champion 2010 - European Championship third 2011 - World Cup fourth 2012 - Bronze medal Olympic Games 2013 - Vice European Champion 2013 - World Tour Champion 2014 - Vice European Champion 2014 - World Tour Champion 2015 - European Champion 2016 - Participant Olympic Games 2016 - World Tour Champion
As of July 24, 2017

Jānis Šmēdiņš (born July 31, 1987 in Kuldīga ) is a Latvian volleyball and beach volleyball player .

Career

Šmēdiņš was with his brother Toms Šmēdiņš 2002 Vice European Champion of the U18. Three years later he won the U20 European Championship. Until 2008, the two brothers played various open tournaments together.

In the summer of 2009, the German Bundesliga club SCC Berlin signed the outside attacker, who was previously only active as an indoor volleyball player in his home country and had won the national championship with SK Riga . Šmēdiņš reached the playoff semifinals of the Bundesliga in his first season with the Berliners and was third in the Challenge Cup . A year later he was defeated with the SCC only in the playoff final against VfB Friedrichshafen . 2011/12 Šmēdiņš played at league rivals Moerser SC .

After a few tournaments with changing partners, Šmēdiņš formed a new beach duo with Mārtiņš Pļaviņš in 2010 . At the European Championships in Berlin , the Latvians won the bronze medal with his victory against the Spaniards Lario / Mesa . In Marseille they were only defeated by the Chinese Wu / Xu in the final of the Open tournament . At the 2011 World Cup they lost the game for third place after three sets against the German defending champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann . At the 2012 Summer Olympics , Jānis Šmēdiņš and Mārtiņš Pļaviņš won the bronze medal in three sets against the Dutch Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil .

Jānis Šmēdiņš has been playing with Aleksandrs Samoilovs since 2013 . Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš achieved top ten placements almost without exception on the FIVB World Tour 2013 and became Tour Champions and Vice European Champions in Klagenfurt . In 2014 they became World Tour Champions and in Sardinia they were again Vice European Champions . In 2015 Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee became the first Latvians to win the European Championship . In 2016 Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš became champions of the FIVB World Tour for the third time . Outstanding were the victories at the Grand Slam in Olsztyn and at the Major in Klagenfurt . At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, however, they were eliminated in the preliminary round.

Web links

• Jānis Šmēdiņš in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Profile at the world association FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FIVB world rankings (as of July 24, 2017)
2. ↑ Matthias Klee: Volleyball Bundesliga: Janis Smedins strengthens the SCC team. (No longer available online.) Volleyballer.de, June 9, 2009, archived from the original on July 11, 2010 ; Retrieved July 13, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ The staff carousel turns. SCC Berlin, accessed on July 13, 2011 . 
4. ↑ Janis Smedins wins EM bronze. (No longer available online.) Volleyball-bundesliga.de, August 16, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 13, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.