Kiraly May Miss Olympics

Karch Kiraly, the only three-time gold-medal winner in volleyball history, dislocated his right shoulder Wednesday in an international beach volleyball tournament and probably will not play in the Olympics.

Kiraly injured his shoulder while spiking a ball in an early-round match in an Olympic qualifying tournament at Ostende, Belgium.

The tournament was sponsored by the Federation Internationale de Volleyball, the international governing body of beach volleyball, and marked the last chance to earn points toward qualifying for the Olympics.

Kiraly, who will be 40 in November, and his partner, Adam Johnson, were trying to stave off Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana for the second and final U.S. spot in the Olympics, which begin Sept. 16 at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Kiraly’s injury was suffered in a match against Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel of Switzerland.

“As I made contact with the ball, my right shoulder came out of the socket,” Kiraly said in a statement released through USA Volleyball. “I was really hurting until they were able to put [the shoulder] back in five or 10 minutes later. I’ll be out of action for a while [and] maybe through for this calendar year.”

Preliminary X-rays were negative, though Kiraly, a San Clemente resident, returns home today for further examination.

Kiraly had surgery on the same shoulder in 1996 to repair a torn rotator cuff.

“He’s [almost] 40 years old and he’s spent 28 or 29 years using that shoulder for volleyball,” said Kiraly’s father, Laszlo. “Miracles happen, but at this point, I don’t know if they happen within this range.”

Kiraly had recently recovered from a groin-abdominal strain suffered July 9 at the Santa Barbara Open and was playing some of his best volleyball this year. Kiraly and Johnson had overtaken Blanton and Fonoimoana in the Olympic qualifying standings with a fifth-place finish at an FIVB tournament in Austria last week.

Blanton, of Santa Monica, and Fonoimoana, of Manhattan Beach, will probably become the No. 2 team from the U.S. Rob Heidger and Kevin Wong, a former outside hitter at UCLA, are guaranteed the top U.S. spot in the Olympics.

Kiraly, a four-time All-American at UCLA, won a gold medal with partner Kent Steffes in 1996, the first time beach volleyball was an official Olympic sport. Kiraly also won gold medals in indoor volleyball in 1984 and 1988.