Steffes Stepping Into the Spotlight

Kent Steffes has lived in relative obscurity as a professional beach volleyball player for nine years, but lately he is being recognized in public.

His Olympic gold-medal performance with partner Karch Kiraly, also a two-time gold medalist in indoor volleyball, is responsible for the sudden fame.

“People are coming up to me at the Santa Monica gym I’ve worked out in for years and saying, ‘Wow! I saw you on TV. I see you work out in here all the time, but I never knew that’s what you did,’ ” Steffes said.

Well, now they do and the promoters of this weekend’s $150,000 Manhattan Beach Open plan to capitalize on the heightened popularity. Besides Kiraly and Steffes, the 64-team event will feature silver medalists Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh. Play runs today through Sunday.

“It’s incredible how much the Olympics have done for the sport,” Steffes said.

Winning the gold medal was extra special for Steffes because it was his first Olympics and he overcame a serious injury to get there.

In 1995, Steffes had shoulder surgery and missed 13 tournaments on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour.

Since defeating fellow Americans Dodd and Whitmarsh for the gold in Atlanta, Steffes and Kiraly have made an array of television appearances, including “The Tonight Show” earlier this week.

The Olympic hype, Steffes said, has made it difficult to get pumped up for the rest of the AVP season, which concludes in mid-September after a stop in Hermosa Beach on Aug. 23-25.

Steffes, 28, and Kiraly, 35, placed third last week at Santa Cruz, in their first tournament since the Olympics.

They turned down an invitation to the White House earlier this week to stay home and train for the Manhattan Beach Open, which is considered the Wimbledon of beach volleyball.

“We’re emotionally drained,” Steffes said. “We couldn’t get fired up in Santa Cruz. Almost every other athlete is done with their season, and the Olympics is the climax. I wish we had that.”

Kiraly and Steffes have formed the AVP’s most dominant team in recent years. Kiraly has won a record six Manhattan Beach Opens, three with Steffes at his side.

Dodd, 38, has won five titles in Manhattan Beach with former longtime partner Tim Hovland, who retired after last season. Dodd and Whitmarsh, 34, also had a disappointing fifth-place finish last week in Santa Cruz.

But Dodd, a longtime Manhattan Beach resident, is excited about competing in front of his hometown crowd and believes it will motivate him.

“The Olympics is hard to match, but it’s not hard to get fired up for Manhattan Beach,” Dodd said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

So is Steffes, who will be picked up by a limousine after Sunday’s final and flown by private jet to San Diego, where he will play in an exhibition at the Republican National Convention.