The Class of 2017 that will be inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame on November 18 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA, consists of five volleyball legends:
Ronald Zwerver (The Netherlands) – Men’s indoor player (receiver)
Achievements:
- Gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
- Silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics
- Best Attacker in the 1990 and 1994 FIVB World Championship
- Best Attacker at the 1990 and 1991 FIVB World League
- Best Server at the 1991 FIVB World League, 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1993 CEV European Championships
- MVP of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
- A three-time Olympian
Irina Kirillova Parkhomchuk (Soviet Union, Russia) – Women’s indoor player (setter)
Achievements:
- Gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics
- Gold medal at the 1990 FIVB World Championship
- Gold medal in the 1989 and 1991 CEV European Championship
- MVP of the 1990 FIVB World Championship
- 27 trophies on a club level
- Gold medal at the 2006 FIVB World Championship as the assistant coach in the Russian Women’s NT.
Anders Kristiansson (Sweden) – Men’s indoor coach
Achievements:
- 26 gold medals combined in Men’s and Women’s championships in Sweden, 15 in Belgium, 3 in Greece and 1 in Japan
- 2 silver medals in the CEV Champions League
- Silver at the 1989 CEV European Championship with the Swedish Men’s NT
Jizhong Wei (China) – Leader
Achievements:
- The third President of the FIVB (2008-2012), helped the growth of volleyball around the world
- Active in the FIVB from 1986 to 2008; FIVB Honorary Life President
- Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Volleyball Association in the era of five consecutive years of gold medals at the FIVB World Cup, Olympic Games and FIVB World Championship of the Chinese Women’s National Team
- President of the Asian Volleyball Confederation from 2001 to 2008
- Secretary General and Vice President of the Chinese Olympic Committee.
José Loiola (Brazil) – Men’s beach player
- 55 World Tour and AVP gold medals
- Gold medal at the 1999 FIVB World Championship
- Gold medal at the 1999 World Tour
- Gold medal at the 1993 South American Championship
- Silver medal with partner Ricardo Santos at the 2001 FIVB World Championships
- Silver medal at the 1993 FIVB World Championship with partner Eduardo Bacil.
- The 2016 International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductee with partner Emanuel Rego
The International Volleyball Hall of Fame was established in 1978 in Holyoke, which is the birth place of the sports discipline, and will have 135 individual inductees representing 23 different countries after the ceremony on November 18 this year.
Recall which volleyball legends were inducted last year.
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