Anita Spring (Palm)

Born in Bundaberg, Queensland, in 1965, Anita Spring was one of the Australian players who helped introduce beach volleyball to the Olympic stage when the sport made its debut at Atlanta 1996. Competing as Anita Spring-Palm, she partnered Liane Fenwick and was 31 when she appeared at her only Olympic Games. Spring’s place in that first Olympic tournament gave her a lasting spot in Australian beach volleyball history.

Spring and Fenwick finished equal seventh in Atlanta, making them Australia’s second women’s team behind bronze medallists Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst. Their result came in the first Olympic beach volleyball competition, a notable moment for the sport and for Australia’s early international presence in it.