| Ogonna Nnamani | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nnamani in 2005 | |||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Full name | Ogonna Nneka Nnamani | ||||
| Nationality | American | ||||
| Born | (1983-07-29)July 29, 1983 (age 42) Bloomington, Illinois, U.S. | ||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||
| College / University | Stanford | ||||
| Volleyball information | |||||
| Position | Outside hitter | ||||
| Current club | USA Women's National Volleyball Team | ||||
| Number | 1 | ||||
| Career | |||||
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| National team | |||||
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Medal record | |||||
Ogonna Nneka Nnamani// ⓘ (born July 29, 1983) is a physician, retiredAmerican indoorvolleyball player, and former member of theUnited States National and Olympic teams. She was awarded theHonda-Broderick Cup in 2004 as the nation's top female athlete across allNCAA sports and is regarded as one of the best players inStanford University's history with a career record of 2,450 kills, for which she entered the Stanford Hall of Fame in 2015.[1][2]
Nnamani has played at twoOlympic Games, in2004 and2008. In 2004, she became the second woman in history to make theU.S. national team for an Olympic Games while still in college, and as part of the second U.S. team in history to reach the Olympic finals, earned the 2008 Olympic silver medal for indoor volleyball. She ledStanford University to threeNCAA championship matches, winning the national title in 2001 and 2004. Nnamani has led her professional teams to national league titles in 2007 (Swiss Volleyball League) and 2010 (Czech Extraliga), and a runner-up finish in 2006 (Puerto Rico LVSF).
Nnamani was born inBloomington, Illinois, and attendedUniversity High School inNormal, Illinois, where she also played basketball. During her time atUniversity High School she won back to back state championships in 1999 and 2000. She has a younger sister, Nji, who played volleyball alongside her atStanford University and married professional track athleteRussell Wolf Brown.[3] Nnamani also has two younger brothers, Nnaemeka and Ikechi Nnamani. Nnaemeka rantrack and field atIllinois State University, competing in the long and triple jump.[4] Ikechi was the 2009Illinois High School Association champion in thehigh jump and former state record holder. He competed atRice University and theUniversity of Pennsylvania. Her parents speak theIgbo language.[5]
Nnamani was considered the top high school recruit for her class, as she was recruited by major universities in 49 of the 50 U.S. States[6] and won theGatorade National Player of the Year award as a senior in high school.[7]
She is the oldest child of Uzo and Chika Nnamani. Her parents emigrated to the United States from Nigeria in pursuit of better educational opportunities. They are alumni ofIllinois State University. Her father, Chika Nnamani, is an adjunct professor in Politics and Government and also the former Assistant Vice President and Director of Housing atIllinois State University[8] and her mother, Uzo, is an artist and a teacher.
Her last name translates toone who knows the land in the Igbo language.[9]
In 2009 Nnamani signed a contract to play with VK Prostějov for her 2010 professional season. In the same year, she signed a contract extension withNike.[10]
On August 25, 2012 she married former Stanford football player, Mike Silva.[11] Silva graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Economics. Silva also completed a master's degree in Engineering at Stanford and a master's in business administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is currently a venture capitalist. Nnamani received her Doctorate in Medicine fromUniversity of California San Francisco School of Medicine in 2020 where she was named aRegent Scholar and graduated withAlpha Omega Alpha honors. Mike and Ogonna have a daughter, Anya, and resided in San Francisco, California for 10 years. They moved toChestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and she is currently a resident in plastic and reconstructive surgery atHarvard Medical School. She is known to be a talented orator and is a motivational speaker for organizations such as Nike, Gatorade, the Women’s Sports Foundation, Honda, and the National Football Foundation.[12] She was a guest lecturer withAlex Rodriguez and Jeffrey K. Lee for several courses taught by Allison Kluger at theStanford Graduate School of Business.
As a freshman at Stanford, she won anNCAA Women's Volleyball Championship, and for her efforts was named on the NCAA Final Four all-tournament team as she had 19 kills against previously undefeatedLong Beach State in the NCAA championship match.[13] She was named thePac-10, Volleyball Magazine, andAVCA Pacific Region Freshman of the Year.[14]
As a sophomore, she was named an AVCA second team all-American en route to helping Stanford to an NCAA runner-up finish, losing to Pac-10 rivalUSC in the final. She averaged 4.10 kills, 1.14 digs, 0.67 blocks and 4.59 points per game.[15]
Nnamani was named a First Team All-American as well as aHonda Sports Award nominee for volleyball. She set a Stanford single-season kills record with 627.[16] She had 27 kills while hitting .415 in NCAA Second Round win overPacific She was named the tournament MVP at University Park Holiday Inn Classic.[17]
As a senior, Nnamani won an NCAA championship, was named the AVCA National co-Player of the Year,[18] theHonda-Broderick Cup winner,[19] Academic All-American of the Year, and anNCAA Top Eight Award as part of theClass of 2005.[20] Nnamani led Stanford to an unexpected NCAA championship as Stanford was not favored to win as the NCAA tournament's overall 11th seed,[21] but Nnamani set an NCAA tournament record for kills en route to a win over number 4 seedMinnesota in the final atLong Beach Arena inLong Beach, California.
She graduated from Stanford with a degree inhuman biology.[22]
Nnamani is a 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) outside hitter. She joined theU.S. national team in 2002 and went to the2004 and the2008 Olympics.[23] She was the youngest player on the 2004 Olympic Team and the second youngest player on the 2008 Olympic Team.
In 2005, Nnamani garnered media attention for an interview withUSA Today where she remarked, "I know you can run a 100-yard dash by yourself or throw a really good pitch on your own. But in volleyball you rely on your team for every skill you perform."[24] The quote was widely reproduced in newspapers when she was in contention for the Honda-Broderick Cup and later in September 2006 when the Italian media reported that she was being sought after by the A-1 teams.[citation needed]
Nnamani made her international professional debut under the Puerto Rican LVSF league for the Pinkin club of Corozal.[25] Under Nnamani's leadership, the Pinkin team reached the finals of the national league for the first time since 1996, finishing second to the Carolina Gigantes.[26]
After an abbreviated season in the Italian A-1 League, Nnamani signed on toVoléro Zürich ofSwitzerland for 2007. She joined fellow USA OlympianRobyn Ah Mow-Santos on the team. She helped Voléro Zürich team win the Swiss Cup Final, the Championship League and placed fourth in the Indesit European Championship.[27]
After contesting the World Cup in Japan, where the United States took a bronze medal and qualified for the2008 Beijing Olympics, Nnamani returned to Italy and joined fellow USA OlympianLindsey Berg atAsystel Novara.[28] Novara finished with the bronze medal in the Indesit European Championship; highlights for Nnamani included hitting at a .710 percentage on 21 swings against her former team, Volero Zurich, in the playoffs.[29] In January 2008, she was selected by popular vote to join the "All-Star" team for an exhibition game against the Italian National Team in Turin.[30]
At the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing,China, Nnamani played in both outside positions (outside hitter and opposite). Her play included a 17-point performance in a win that eliminatedPoland on August 17, 2008.[31] The United States finished with a silver medal after losing to World No. 1Brazil, the first time it had made the gold medal match since 1984.
For the 2008–09 professional season, Nnamani played withGalatasaray, aTurkish volleyball club known for its FC (football club) that has been successful in the UEFA tournaments. Nnamani, the top scorer of her team, led Galatasaray to one of the biggest upsets in league history when the eighth-seeded Galatasaray upset first seedVakıfBank Güneş Sigorta Istanbul in the quarterfinals.[32] The 322 points she scored during the regular season placed her fourth among all players in the Turkish Professional League.[33]
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2008 USA Olympic Volleyball Team (men's beach, women's beach and men's indoor - gold medals, women's indoor - silver medal) | ||
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| Qualification | _pictogram.svg) | |
| Men's indoor | ||
| Women's indoor | ||
| Men's beach | ||
| Women's beach | ||
| Coaches | ||
