Kvalheim at 58

It has been nearly 20 years since Jan Kvalheim last competed on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour as the Norwegian celebrates his birthday today in his hometown reflecting on his career during which he and Bjorn Maaseide produced his country’s most FIVB beach volleyball medals as a team.

“I will be in my hometown Skien on my 58th birthday,” said Kvalheim, who competed 12 seasons on the FIVB circuit starting in July 1989 with a player from France at a World Tour event in his partner’s home country in Sete. Prior to committing full-time to competing on the beach in 1994, Kvalheim played volleyball in France (Arago Sète from 1984 to 1989 and AS Cannes from 1989 to 1992) and became a French champion twice and won the French Cup in 1988.

“I live mostly in Oslo now,” said the two-time Olympian. “This weekend I will be back home in Skien (two hours south of Oslo) with my girlfriend, my two daughters and the boyfriend of my oldest. It will just be a quiet evening with some pizza and Pepsi Max - my favourite food and drink.”

Kvalheim competed in 98 World Tour events during his career and he and Maaseide still top Norway’s list for producing FIVB podium placements (18), medals and final four finishes (27), highlighted by seven gold medals during a four-season period (1994-1997).

Current World Tour stars Anders Mol and Christian Sorum are challenging Kvalheim and Maaseide’s podium leadership as the young Norwegians have amassed 14 medals and 10 titles during their four FIVB seasons together. Mole and Sorum are also the current leaders on the World Tour ranking list.

“These two guys are great players and great guys,” said Kvalheim of Mol and Sorum. “They are so talented and so humble. I quickly understood that they would beat our records and I cheer for them 100 per cent! The work they have done with Kare Mol and their staff is really promising for their future. They are the favourites for the Tokyo Olympics, and I will probably do the commentaries on the Norwegian network during their matches in these Olympics, so I am excited for two reasons!”

As for Kvalheim’s television work, he said he is “working with many sports and broadcast-related projects in Norway. The television shows include The Masked Singer and the Norwegian Sports Gala, and many others. I do the casting of those TV shows - meaning I find the celebrities for those TV shows.”

When asked about playing the World Tour leaders virtually, Kvalheim said “Mol and Sorum would be favourites, but I know how we would play tactically against them. We would need a good serve in that match, to beat them. It seems like that they don't have weak parts in their game and I'm really impressed with what they have accomplished the last three years.”

Despite their brief tenure on the World Tour, Mol and Sorum are now being considered as one of the best teams ever. Kvalheim said it would be “difficult to rank” the young Norwegians with the likes of Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos from Brazil and Americans Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers.

“It's really difficult to compare these great teams,” said Kvalheim. “They were all dominating in their best years and I can't rank them. But they all are great guys as well, and I appreciate that!”

Kvalheim and Maaseide were World Tour champions in 1994 by winning FIVB events in the United States, Russia and France. The three teams behind the Norwegians in the 1994 standings were defeated by Kvalheim and Maaseide in the finals at the stops in Miami, St. Petersburg and Marseille, respectively.

“The Miami win in 1994 was my most memorable moment on the world Tour,” said Kvalheim. “Bjorn and I won our first FIVB event and we defeated Brazilians Franco (Neto) and Roberto Lopez in the final. Winning the next season in Rio was also memorable as the event was considered the world championships and it helped validate our World Tour championship from the season before.”

Although he played mostly during the sideout scoring era on the World Tour, Kvalheim said “rally-scoring is the best format for the sport. I also love the new format (King of the Court) created by the Dutch guy Wilco Nijland. I would have loved that format when I was a player. I think that this is perfect for the players, the fans, the TV/media and sponsors. I love it!”

Playing his final three seasons on the FIVB circuit when Norway hosted its first events on the World Tour in Stavanger was also a highlight for Kvalheim, who placed seventh with Maaseide at the inaugural beach volleyball Olympic competition in 1996 at Atlanta.

“When Bjorn and I played in our first World Tour event in Norway at Stavanger in 1999, we won our first two matches on Friday,” said Kvalheim. “When we played our first match on Saturday morning at 9am, the stadium was full with 3,000 spectators at 8.30am! No one would believe that that could happen!”

With Stavanger hosting 15 FIVB events (1999-2011, 2014-2015), Kvalheim said there were “many reasons why Stavanger was such a unique site on the World Tour. It was a venue that featuring dockside playing areas with a huge cruise ship 10 meters from the centre court. The organiser hosted many different events for the players and sponsors, including a golf tournament, a boat trip in the fjord, entertaining nightlife and the Norwegian fans cheering for all teams.”

As for the top teams on the World Tour during his playing, Kvalheim said “there were many great Brazilian teams along with pairs from Switzerland (Martin and Paul Laciga), Portugal (Joao Brenha/Miguel Maia) and Argentina (Martin Conde/Eduardo Martinez). We didn`t play that many US teams but for us, it was always fun and tough to play against Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel. I loved the intensity in these matches. Sinjin is the smartest player I`ve played against. Sinjin and Carl are also great friends of ours today.”

Playing in Brazil was also memorable for Kvalheim as the Norwegian said “the passion the fans have for the sport is amazing, especially playing against their team on the centre court. It is a dream for all beach volleyball players!”

Kvalheim and Maaseide are also involved with a new project in Norway with world championship cyclist Thor Hushovd by starting padel court centres. “It’s a new sport in Norway,” said Kvalheim, “and it's huge internationally, especially in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Sweden and France. We hope to have 10 padel tennis centres before 2022 and 30 centres with 200 courts before 2025.”

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