​This is part two of a story drawn from a Forbes exclusive interview with Karch Kiraly conducted on July 3, 2026. All quotes come directly from the interview transcript. Olympic championships are frequently recalled through a single snapshot, yet those images rarely reveal the hidden years of toil behind triumph. For Karch Kiraly, Olympic success has never been defined by the two weeks of competition alone. It is the result of countless hours of practice, countless conversations, and hundreds of choices that most people outside a team will never notice. That mindset has fueled one of the most extraordinary careers in Olympic history.
In Atlanta on July 28, 1996, Kiraly of the USA Dream Team celebrated a gold medal in a moment captured on the beach as the sun set over a stadium that had witnessed a generation of champions. He remains the only athlete to win Olympic gold medals in both indoor and beach volleyball. As the head coach of the United States women’s national team, he steered the Americans to their first Olympic gold in Tokyo, then returned to the podium with a silver in Paris. Today, he applies those same lessons to the U.S. men’s national team as it gears up for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Yet when asked to describe his first season coaching the men, Kiraly did not start with offensive systems, blocking schemes, or statistical analyses. He started with people.
“2025 was a year of learning,” Kiraly said during an exclusive interview. “Learning these people, learning about them both as individuals and about their families, and also learning about them as players.” He spoke from Pasay, in Luzon, Philippines, where, on September 15, 2025, he addressed his players at a timeout during the Volleyball Men’s World Championship, Pool D match between the United States and Portugal at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Elite coaches are often celebrated for their technical prowess, and Kiraly is no exception to that rule. Yet he also understands the significance of intangibles such as relationships. That recognition has been forged through decades in Olympic volleyball, a sport where the margin between standing on the podium and watching another nation celebrate can hinge on just a few points. In Kiraly’s view, the people—the players and the dynamic within the team—are the true foundation of sustained excellence. It is this emphasis on human connection, more than any single strategy or statistic, that has propelled him from a celebrated player to a transformative leader who continues to shape American volleyball on the world stage.