Foluke Atinuke Gunderson (née Akinradewo; born October 5, 1987) is an indoor volleyball player who plays as a middle blocker for Japanese club Hisamitsu Springs. Born in Canada, she represents the United States internationally. Gunderson won gold with the national team at the

2010 FIVB World Grand Prix The 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix was a women's volleyball tournament to be played by 12 countries from 6–29 August 2010. The finals were held at the Beilun Gymnasium in Ningbo, China. The United States claimed their 3rd title and Foluke Akinra ...

, 2014 World Championship, the Rimini Volleyball Nations League, and the

2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, silver at the

2012 London Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competi ...

, and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Her 2020 Olympics win allowed her to complete the trifecta of winning an Olympic bronze, silver, and gold medal.

High school and personal life

Gunderson was born in London, Ontario, to Ayoola and Comfort Akinradewo. Her siblings are Folu and Foluso Akinradewo. She holds a tri-citizenship with Canada, Nigeria and the United States, and used to audition for commercials when she was little. Gunderson attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

, where she was a three-year letter winner in volleyball and was also on the basketball and track & field teams. She was an All-American selection in 2003 and 2004 and an all-state selection in 2002, 2003 and 2004. She was named the Florida Dairy Farmers Volleyball Player of the Year in 2005. In addition to volleyball, she was an all-state selection in basketball and was a four-time Florida State Champion in track. She made her US international debut before the start of her freshman year at Stanford. She helped the US win the 2004 NORCECA Continental Women's Junior Championship, and then was the starting middle blocker on the U.S. Women's Junior National Team at the 2005 FIVB World Championships.

Stanford

Gunderson majored in human biology at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. As a freshman in 2005, she was named the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Freshman of the Year and the

American Volleyball Coaches Association The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 6,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered in L ...

(AVCA) Pacific Region Freshman of the Year. She was named an AVCA Second Team All-American and led the squad in hitting percentage (.397), a mark which ranked third in the Pac-10, 13th in the nation and third for a single-season in school history. In 2006, she was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team as she led Stanford to an NCAA Division I runner-up finish to Nebraska. For the year, she was named a First Team All-American by the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine. In 2007, Gunderson was named the AVCA National Player of the Year and was the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

winner for volleyball. She broke the Pac-10 and Stanford single season hitting percentage record by more than 50 points, as she averaged .499 percentage, a mark that was first in the nation and second since rally-scoring was introduced in 2001. She was named to the Final Four All-Tournament Team as she led Stanford to their second consecutive Division I national runner-up finish to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

. As a senior in 2008, Gunderson repeated as the Pac-10 Player of the Year and got her third consecutive Honda Award nomination. She repeated as a First Team All-American and led Stanford to their third consecutive NCAA title match. She finished her collegiate career with the best career hitting efficiency (.446) of any NCAA Division I player.

Club volleyball

Gunderson joined Toyota Auto Body Queenseis in October 2010. In the 2010–11 V.Premier League, Gunderson was named the winner of the Spike award. Gunderson won the silver medal in the 2012 FIVB Club World Championship, playing with the Azerbaijani club Rabita Baku. In 2013 Gunderson's club, Rabita Baku, won the Azerbaijan Super League Championship winning their sixth title in a row. She won the league's Best Spiker award.

International career

2012

Gunderson competed for Team USA in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She earned a silver medal for her efforts.

2014

Gunderson was part of the USA national team that won the 2014 World Championship gold medal when the team defeated China 3–1 in the final match. It was the USA's first-ever gold in any of the three major volleyball tournaments.

2016

Gunderson was part of the US bronze medal-winning team at the 2016 Olympics. She started all eight games. She was named in the 2016 Olympic Games Dream Team at middle blocker.

2021

In May 2021, she was named to the 18-player roster for the FIVB Volleyball Nations League tournament. that will be played May 25-June 24 in Rimini, Italy. It is the only major international competition before the Tokyo Olympics in July. On June 7, 2021, US National Team head coach Karch Kiraly announced she would be part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo.

Awards

Individual

* '' 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix "Most Valuable Player"'' * '' 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Blocker"'' * ''2010–2011 Japanese V.League "Spike Award"'' * '' 2012-13 Azerbaijan Super League "Best Spiker"'' * '' 2016 Olympic Games "Best Middle Blocker"'' * '' 2016 FIVB Club World Championship "Best Middle Blocker"'' * '' 2017-2018 Japanese V.League Division 1 "Spike Award"'' * '' 2018-2019 Japanese V.League "Best Middle Blocker"'' * '' 2018-2019 Japanese V.League "Most Valuable Player"''

College

*Four-time AVCA All-American (2005, second team; 2006–08, first team) *Three-time ''Volleyball Magazine'' first team All-American (2006–08) *Four-time All-Pac-10 team (2005–08) *Two-time NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team (2006, 2007) *2008 – ''Volleyball Magazine'' National co-Player of the Year *2008 – Honda Award nominee *2008 – Pac-10 Player of the Year *2007 – AVCA National Player of the Year *2007 – Pac-10 Player of the Year *2007 – Honda Award winner for volleyball *2007 – NCAA Stanford Regional MVP *2007 – Pac-10 Player of the Week (Oct. 1) *2006 –

Honda Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

nominee *2005 – AVCA Pacific Region Freshman of the Year *2005 – Pac-10 Freshman of the Year

National team

* 2010

Pan-American Volleyball Cup * 2010 Gold medal with cup

FIVB World Grand Prix * 2011 Bronze medal with cup

Pan-American Volleyball Cup * 2011 Gold medal with cup

Women's NORCECA Volleyball Continental Championship * 2011 Gold medal with cup

FIVB World Grand Prix * 2011 Silver medal with cup

FIVB Women's World Cup * 2012 Gold medal with cup

FIVB World Grand Prix * 2012 Silver medal with cup

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

* 2013

FIVB World Grand Champions Cup * 2013 Gold medal with cup

Women's NORCECA Volleyball Continental Championship * 2014 Gold medal with cup

FIVB World Championship * 2015 Gold medal with cup

FIVB World Grand Prix * 2015 Bronze medal with cup

FIVB Women's World Cup * 2015 Gold medal with cup

Women's NORCECA Volleyball Continental Championship * 2016 Gold medal with cup

Women's NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament * 2016 Silver medal with cup

FIVB World Grand Prix * 2016 Bronze medal with cup

* 2017

FIVB World Grand Champions Cup * 2018 Gold medal with cup

FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League * 2019 Gold medal with cup

FIVB Women's Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualifications Tournament (IOQT) - Qualified * 2019 Silver medal with cup

FIVB Women's World Cup * 2019 Silver medal with cup

Women's NORCECA Volleyball Continental Championship * 2021 Gold medal with cup

FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League * 2020 Gold medal with cup

Clubs

* Toyota Auto Body Queenseis (2010-2011) * Dinamo Krasnodar (2011–2012) * Rabita Baku (2012–2015) * Voléro Zürich (2015–2017) * Hisamitsu Springs (2017–2019) * Hisamitsu Springs (2020–2021)

References

Sources

Akinradewo Player Bio at gostanford.com

Akinradewo on usavolleyball.org

External links

Foluke Akinradewo
at the

International Volleyball Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunderson, Foluke 1987 births Living people African-American volleyball players Black Canadian sportswomen Canadian women's volleyball players Nigerian women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2003 Pan American Games Volleyball players at the 2007 Pan American Games Volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Stanford Cardinal women's volleyball players Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian sportspeople of Nigerian descent Volleyball people from Ontario Sportspeople from London, Ontario Olympic silver medalists for the United States in volleyball Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics American women's volleyball players Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in volleyball Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in volleyball Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Middle blockers Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Florida) alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women