Destinee Hooker

Sport: Volleyball

Nation: United States of America

DOB: September 7, 1987

Hometown: San Antonio, TX

Career Highlights: A rapidly rising star, Hooker will be the U.S. team's focal point on offense as she makes her Olympic debut. The opposite hitter was instrumental in helping the U.S. punch its ticket to London at the World Cup, finishing third among all scorers with 185 points as the U.S. placed second to qualify. Hooker won the World Cup’s Best Spiker award in Japan, converting 49.53 percent of her 319 attempts with 24 faults and scoring a career-high 39 points in a five-set victory over China - 36 coming by spike. Hooker appeared in the first six matches of the World Grand Prix, averaging 5.15 points per set as the U.S. eventually won its third straight title. She joined the national team in 2008 while still playing collegiately at Texas but did not begin traveling with the U.S. squad until 2010. Hooker also was MVP of the 2011 FIVB World Grand Prix as the U.S. won the event for the second straight year. She finished with 101 points in that tournament, scoring 15 or more points in 11 of the 13 overall matches. Hooker is the second Olympian in the family. Her older sister Marshevet was a track star who competed in Beijing in 2008, and Destinee graduated high school one year early to compete with her in track and field at Texas in 2006. At the club level, Hooker already has many stamps on her passport with stops at South Korea (Seoul Gas Caltex KIXX), Puerto Rico (Pinkin de Corozal), Italy (Scavolini Pesaro), Brazil (Sollys Osasco) and currently Russia (Dynamo Krasnodar).

Olympic History: None