Kimberley Yvette "Kim" Oden (born May 6, 1964, in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

) is a former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player and two-time Olympian who played on the

United States women's national volleyball team The United States women's national volleyball team participates in international volleyball competitions and friendly games, and is governed by USA Volleyball. The current head coach is three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant beac ...

College

Oden was a three-time All-American volleyball player at

Stanford 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 considere ...

. She was selected as the AVCA Player of the Year in 1985. In 1985, she won the Honda-Broderick Award (now 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 ...

) as the nation's best female collegiate volleyball player. Oden graduated from

in 1986 with a degree in Public Policy, and then went on to play with the United States national team (1986–92, '94). In 1995, Oden was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame.

National team

Oden was named the Olympic team captain in 1988 and 1992. At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul, Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, Oden was selected as the "Best Hitter," tallying the highest hitting percentage during the Games. Four years later, she won a bronze medal with the national team at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Oden helped the national team win a bronze medal at the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas c ...

. She participated at the 1990 FIVB World Championship, winning a bronze medal and being selected as the "Best Blocker". She also participated at the 1994 FIVB World Championship.

Coaching

Oden was the head volleyball coach at Saint Francis High School in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

, where in four years she recorded 100 wins and only 34 losses.

Personal life

Oden is currently the guidance counselor at a local high school. Originally a

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

resident of

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier *Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia *Irvine Island *Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada *Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...

, Oden now resides in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

. Her sisters,

Elaina Elena is a popular female given name of Greek origin. The name means "shining light". Nicknames of the name Elena are Lena, Lennie, Ella, Ellie, Nellie or Nena (less common). Other common variants are Alena (German, Czech, Russian, Belarusian, S ...

and Beverly, are also Olympians who played on the national volleyball team.

Awards

* Three-time All-American * Two-time National Player of the Year 1984, 1985 * Honda-Broderick Award 1985 * Three-time Pac-10 Player of the Year 1983, 1984, and 1985 * Pan American Games bronze medal 1987 * Player of the Decade on the AVCA's All-Decade Team (1980s) 1990 * FIVB World Championship bronze medal 1990 * "Best Blocker" at the FIVB World Championship 1990 * Cardinal single-match record for most blocks (16) * Olympic bronze medal 1992 * National Four-Women Pro-Beach Tour MVP 1995 * Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame 1995

Clubs

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 ...

(1994) * Beşiktaş JK (women's volleyball) Istanbul (1996)

References

External links

Kim Oden at Olympics.com
*
Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame

Olympedia Profile: Kim Oden

Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame Profile

(archived)

(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Oden, Kim 1964 births African-American volleyball players Living people Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in volleyball Sportspeople from Birmingham, Alabama Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California Stanford Cardinal women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics American women's volleyball players Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games medalists in volleyball 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games