The Hague, the Netherlands, October 6, 2016 – Jantine van der Vlist is to retire from beach volleyball just over a month since she made her Olympic debut at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.
The 30-year-old played alongside Sophie van Gestel at Rio 2016 and was one of the Beach Volleyball Team Netherlands (BTN) funded athletes. She made her FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour debut in 2008 at the Marseille Open.
“I spent seven years as a professional beach volleyball player and I learned a lot during that time,” Van der Vlist said. “I do not think I'm going to surpass what I’ve achieved and now I want to do something else in life.”
Van der Vlist’s final tournament came at the Long Beach Grand Slam, which took place a week after the end of Rio 2016.
She was added the funded programme following the London 2012 Olympic Games. She teamed up with van Gestel at the start of 2015 and they qualified for Rio 2016 through the Continental Cup.
“All in all, there were many great moments over the years,” she said. “With Marloes (Wesselink) and Sophie (van Gestel) I reached four World Tour semifinals. Playing in a World Championships (Netherlands 2015) in my home country was very cool as was what we achieved in the Continental Cup this year.
“The Rio Olympics was my ultimate and I had the great privilege of playing alongside Sophie there.”