Jordan Larson, who in Tokyo captained the U.S. to its first Olympic women’s volleyball title as tournament MVP, is returning to the national team for the first time since the Games.
Larson, 36, competed at the last three Olympics, winning a medal of every color.
She said in March 2020 that she planned an international retirement for after the Tokyo Games in 2021 for “other endeavors in my life that I want to see. Getting married, having children, those kinds of things.”
“I would want nothing more than to have a family,” she tweeted Thursday. “Unfortunately, god has other plans. I have been blessed to do what I love for a very long time and still have a passion for it.”
U.S. head coach Karch Kiraly said in a VolleyballMag.com video interview published Thursday that Larson “will be in our gym.”
“She is on our roster for VNL in terms of eligibility,” Kiraly said, referencing the volleyball nations league, which begins May 30 and runs at various times through mid-July final rounds in Texas. “Jordan had a certain life path planned out, mapped out, and then some things changed, and so her life took a couple of unexpected turns, which led her to kind of reassess things.
“In general, I guess I’d say she is surprised at how much she is still enjoying this game and surprised at how good her body is still feeling after having played for quite a number of years.”
Larson continued to play club volleyball after Tokyo in China and Italy.
Without Larson, the national team placed fourth at last fall’s quadrennial world championship.
If Larson goes for a fourth Olympics, she can become the second-oldest U.S. Olympic female indoor volleyball player after program record five-time Olympian Danielle Scott-Arruda, according to Olympedia.org.
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