Two-time Olympic beach volleyball player Sarah Pavan announces retirement

Sarah Pavan (right) of Kitchener and Melissa Humana-Paredes hoist the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships trophy (Source: @SarahPavan Twitter)

Two-time Olympian Sarah Pavan announced her retirement Monday, ending a 25-year volleyball career that included play in both indoor team competition and the beach volleyball discipline.

Pavan, who won a world beach title in 2019, finished fifth at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the Tokyo Games in 2021.

"Volleyball has always been so much more than a sport to me," Pavan said in a statement. "It has been my social circle, my safe space, my classroom, my vehicle of self-expression, my career, and my first love."

The Kitchener, Ont., native made her junior national indoor team debut at age 14 and made history two years later as the youngest player to be selected to the Canadian women's indoor team.

She became a four-time first-team all-American at the University of Nebraska and spent a decade on the indoor professional scene before switching to beach volleyball in 2013.

Pavan, 38, won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with Melissa Humana-Paredes and they earned a world title together the following year. They lost in the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Games.

Pavan teamed with Heather Bansley in her Olympic debut in Rio.