Five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings has split with her beach volleyball tour and her partner as she looks for a new way into the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Walsh Jennings rejected an exclusivity agreement with the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) that would have locked her into the circuit through the games in Tokyo.
The 38-year-old recently revealed that the deal lacked the vision to grow the game and was 'a death sentence for our sport'.
Among her complaints: a circuit that she says has minimal growth in prize money or the number of events, dooming athletes to live with their parents or take full-time jobs to support themselves.
Five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings, 38, has split with her beach volleyball tour, AVP, as she said the new deal lacked growth in prize money and in the number of events
'We're being kept in a small little fishbowl,' Walsh Jennings said.
'I know our sport deserves more. We've been told we're small, and we believe it.'
AVP owner Donald Sun didn't respond to his former star's comments, but said he wished her well after Walsh Jennings missed the deadline to sign before this week's season-opener in California.
The decision to opt out of the AVP tour also means Walsh Jennings will split with April Ross, her partner in Rio de Janeiro, where they won the Olympic bronze medal.
Despite the split, Walsh Jennings and Ross could continue to play together on the international tour and earn enough points to qualify for the 2020 Games.
However, this would mean maintaining separate partnerships domestically and abroad - and Ross has signed her deal with AVP.
Walsh Jennings said she was disappointed the partnership had to end.
'April and I are finished. We're not competing together anymore,' she said.
'I have a ton of respect for April. I just have a different vision for the future.'
Although beach volleyball earns a spike in popularity with TV audiences every four years, the sport's efforts to establish a stable US tour have left it running in the sand.
Beach volleyball athletes have been in an ongoing fight with USA Volleyball, arguing that preference leans towards the indoor game.
The AVP has declared bankruptcy twice and has found itself in competition with the National Volleyball League (another beach volleyball tour) - despite all agreeing that one, stable tour would be best for the sport.
Although Walsh Jennings and Ross could continue to play together on the international tour and earn enough points to qualify for the 2020 Games, Ross has already signed her AVP deal
Walsh Jennings insists she wants to ensure that the sport continues to grow and is not 'held back', and plans to find an alternative way into the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo (Walsh Jennings plays a play at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games)
Walsh Jennings insists she wants to ensure that the sport continues to grow and is not 'held back', and plans to find an alternative way into the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo (Walsh Jennings plays a play at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games)
Walsh Jennings has been at the forefront of many of these fights, and said she wants to do what's best for her sport.
Arguably as the sport's most popular face, at least in the US, she is able to make a living by relying on endorsement deals others don't have.
Walsh Jennings also said her objection to the deal has nothing to do with a lawsuit she filed against the AVP last month, claiming breach of a personal services contract, or with a dispute over rule changes that led her to boycott an event last summer.
'I know my intentions are pure,' she said.
'And this is not about not being grateful. This is about knowing there's more and better out there. I believe in the sport. I believe in the sport at the highest level. That's what I'm going after. It's all there for the taking.'
And, she said, she couldn't bring herself to sign a deal that would hold the sport back.
'I want to believe in what I'm doing,' she said. 'I believe in what I'm doing much more than if I had signed this contract.'
Walsh Jennings, who will turn 42 during the Tokyo Games, insisted that she is not retiring and is determined to attend the next Olympic Games - making it her sixth appearance.
Walsh Jennings had won three consecutive gold medals at the Olympics (in Athens, Beijing and London) with former partner Misty May-Treanor (right) who retired after the 2012 London games
As for her next step, she said: 'I get myself a partner.
'I don't know who that's going to be. That's exciting for me, to grow toward Tokyo.'
Most of the American players will be opening the season in Huntington Beach, California, but Walsh Jennings is spending the weekend at the NCAA beach volleyball championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
'I figured I'm not playing this weekend so I want to go support the good stuff,' she said.
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