Eric Fonoimoana
Eric Fonoimoana | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born |
Manhattan Beach, California, U.S. | June 7, 1969||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) | ||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Eric Fonoimoana (born June 7, 1969) is an American former volleyball player of Samoan descent[1] most notable for winning the gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games. He has earned approximately 1 million dollars playing beach volleyball. He has played professionally for more than 18 years, and has entered over 200 tournaments. Fonoimoana won at least one tournament for seven straight years between 1998 and 2004, is a former AVP Most Valuable Player and is in the top 10 in terms of all-time tournaments played.
He was born in Manhattan Beach, California, and attended UCSB, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
2002 was Fonoimoana's peak year in which he reached the finals six times and won four titles with then partner Dax Holdren. In this year Fonoimoana was named the AVP's Most Valuable Player.
In the spring of 2000, Fonoimoana founded the Dig for Kids charitable foundation which helps kids in inner cities excel in school, volleyball and other athletics. Dig 4 Kids has helped over 2,450 children learn the importance of education and physical fitness.
Fonoimoana's partner for the Olympic Gold was Dain Blanton.
Fonoimoana is now semi-retired and is a real estate professional in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, California. He still remains active in the volleyball community online via the interactive instructional volleyball website Volleyball 1on1, where Fonoimoana maintains a presence on their instructional volleyball videos section.
Awards and honors
- Olympic Gold Medalist Sydney, Australia 2000
- AVP Most Valuable Player 2002
- UC Santa Barbara Hall of Fame
- Sigma Chi Fraternity – Significant Sig
References
External links
- Career profile at the Beach Volleyball Database
- Eric Fonoimoana
- Dig 4 Kids Charity website
- Eric Fonoimoana Volleyball Videos
- Eric Fonoimoana Real Estate