Charles Kiraly

Charles "Karch" Kiraly
Karch Kiraly in 2014
portrait
birthday	November 3, 1960
place of birth	Jackson, United States
size	1.88 m
Indoor volleyball
societies
1990-1992	Il Messaggero Ravenna (Italy)
National team
1983-1988	A national team
successes
1984 - Olympic Champion 1985 - Winner World Cup 1986 - World Champion 1986 - Silver Goodwill Games 1988 - Olympic Champion
beach volleyball
partner	1979–1984 Sinjin Smith 1985–1987 Michael Dodd 1987–1989 Steve Timmons 1987–1988 Patrick Powers 1990–1996 Kent Steffes 1997–2000 Adam Johnson 2002–2003 Brent Doble 2004–2005 Mike Lambert 2006 Larry Witt 2007 Kevin Wong
successes
1988 - World Champion 1989 - Winner Open Enoshima 1996 - Olympic Champion 1997 - World Cup fifth in 1999 - World Cup fifth
As of October 12, 2014

Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly (born November 3, 1960 in Jackson , Michigan ) is a retired American volleyball and beach volleyball player . He became Olympic champion in both disciplines , twice in the hall and once in the sand. He also won the world championship with the US team. He has been the coach of the women's national team since 2012. In 2014 he led the team to win the World Cup for the first time.

Career

Karch Kiraly was born to Hungarian refugees who fled to the United States after the 1956 uprising in Hungary . After his birth, his family went to California , where he later attended high school in Santa Barbara and was called up to the US junior team during this time.

After graduating from high school, he began studying biochemistry at the University of Los Angeles . He led his volleyball team as their best player to three national championships in 1979, 1981 and 1982 and he also became a national player . At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles , he won his first Olympic gold medal with the US team. In 1986 he also became world champion and won his second gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul .

After the Olympic Games in Seoul, Kiraly ended his career in the national team and played from 1990 to 1992 for the Italian top club Il Messaggero Ravenna , with which he won the 1991 volleyball club world championship and was Italian runner-up in 1992. Then he returned to the USA and became a professional beach volleyball player. With his partner Kent Steffes he won the gold medal in beach volleyball at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta . He is the first player to become Olympic champion both indoors and on the beach. He also holds the record with the most professional wins in beach volleyball (148 in total) and prize money of over US $ 3.1 million.

2001 Karch Kiraly was inducted into the " Volleyball Hall of Fame ".

On October 22, 2007, Kiraly announced the end of his career. Recently he had to fight injuries again and again.

Karch Kiraly lives in San Clemente , California with his wife and two sons . There he concentrates on his volleyball academy, the Karch Kiraly Volleyball Academy.

In 2009 he became assistant coach of the US women's national team . After winning the silver medal at the 2012 Olympics , he took over the post of head coach. In 2014, the American women became world champions for the first time with him as coach with a 3-1 win in the World Cup final against China .

Honors

• AVP Best Defensive Player 2002
• AVP Best Offensive Player 1990, 1993, 1994
• AVP Comeback Player of the Year 1997
• AVP Miller Lite Cup Champion 1996
• AVP Most Inspirational 1998
• AVP Most Valuable Player 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998
• AVP Outstanding Achievement 2004
• AVP Special Achievement 2002
• AVP Sportsman of the Year 1995, 1997, 1998
• AVP Team of the Year 2004 (with Mike Lambert)

Web links

• Portrait at USA Volleyball (English)
• Profile at the world association FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
• Profile at the Italian Volleyball League (Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in the Hall of Fame