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Two-time Olympic beach volleyball player Sarah Pavan announces retirement

Oct 21, 2024 | 12:36 PM

TORONTO — Two-time Olympian Sarah Pavan announced her retirement Monday, ending a 25-year volleyball career that included play in both indoor team competition and the beach volleyball discipline.

Pavan, who won a world beach title in 2019, finished fifth at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the Tokyo Games in 2021.

“Volleyball has always been so much more than a sport to me,” Pavan said in a statement. “It has been my social circle, my safe space, my classroom, my vehicle of self-expression, my career, and my first love.”

The Kitchener, Ont., native made her junior national indoor team debut at age 14 and made history two years later as the youngest player to be selected to the Canadian women’s indoor team.