Keba Phipps

Keba Phipps competed at two Olympics in volleyball, but with a 16-year gap between her 1988 Seoul and 2004 Athina Olympics. Phipps was on the US National Team in the late 1980s, playing at the 1987 Pan American Games (bronze medal) and the NORCECA Continental Championships in 1987 (silver) and 1989 (bronze). She then tested positive for marijuana and was suspended from the US team. Phipps went to Italy where she played professional volleyball for 13 years, and refused to return to the US team after her suspension was up, harboring anger at the US team leaders.

In 2002 another US Olympic volleyballer, Tara Cross-Battle, was playing with Phipps in Italy and convinced her to return to the US team, even though Phipps was by then 33-years-old. The return was successful, even if she failed to win an Olympic medal in 2004, with the team placing fifth. Phipps did win gold at the 2003 NORCECA Championships, a silver at the 2002 World Championships, and bronze medals at the 2003 World Cup and 2004 FIVB World Grand Prix. Phipps later opened her own training center, the Keba Phipps Volleyball Academy (KPVA), near Atlanta, Georgia.