Going for 3
Getting to know two-time volleyball gold medalist Misty May-treanor,
Misty May-treanor tells a story of how she came to race as a hot dog at a Milwaukee Brewers spring training game when her husband played for the team.
She knew she had to do it secretly. When she brought up the idea to Matt Treanor (now a catcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers), he said it would embarrass him.
When the day of the race came, she thought he wouldn’t find out. But then she was discovered.
“The players went, ‘Oh, look at the legs on No. 4’ because No. 4 was the hot dog,” May-treanor says. “My husband noticed the scars on my legs. He was like, ‘Wait. That’s my wife.’ It was great.
“The funny thing is for 40 minutes after the race you have to sign pictures as sausages. I had to sign ‘Hot Dog’ for 40 minutes. It started as hot dog and eventually became HD.”
May-treanor is known wherever she goes as an Olympic champion in beach volleyball. She and partner Kerri Walsh will seek an unprecedented third consecutive gold in London.
A partner, marriage, friendship: It’s kind of all wrapped into one because Kerri and I are together so much. You kind of have to know the person. You try to learn more and you want to learn more about the person fighting next to you. I’m stronger than I think I am. Mentally, physically. It’s important just interacting with people. I love to go back to my old college and work out at the rec center. I’m just a normal athlete hanging out with students, and they work out next to me.
I don’t want to be put on a pedestal. I want to be known as a nice and normal person, but my skills are a little more excelled.
I’ve never been outside Heathrow, so it will be exciting to see what London has to offer. I think I’ve only flown into Heathrow maybe twice.
I will be a spectator (for the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016). I think it’s exciting for that country. . . . To have an Olympic Games come down there, it gives the people of Brazil a chance to get introduced to new things.
This season is supposed to be pretty bad for allergies. I’m here to be a spokesperson to just let the public recognize that when you have allergies, it’s important to go get them checked, because they can become worse. It seems like whenever I get bad allergies it always turns into a chest cold. It’s better to get it taken care of right away before it turns into something worse.
I’ve got to read The Hunger Games before I see the movie.
Matt worked out with me in the offseason. He pushed me. I pushed him. He wants me to be the best I can. I want him to be the best he can. It’s fun. I still want to do batting practice or have him throw balls at me, but he won’t. He doesn’t want me to get hurt.
People have this view that we get there and we sightsee and we play. We don’t have an opportunity to do that because we’re there to work. A lot of these places I’d love to go back to.
Yeah, I’ve gotten tired of volleyball; that’s when I go to the spa.
Baseball games are relaxing for me because it’s not my sport and I can sit there and people-watch. I’ve never been a rah-rah person. I would like to coach indoor (volleyball) sometime. I don’t know if right away, but at some point. I’d really like to take a long vacation.