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Italy won three straight games against the United States, which has won medals in women’s volleyball at the past five Olympics.
PARIS, France – Top-ranked Italy defeated the United States in the women’s Olympic volleyball final on Sunday, August 11, defeating the defending champions in three straight sets to claim its first gold medal on the final day of the Games.
Italy went into the Olympics as the champions of the Volleyball World League and were undefeated on their way to gold, losing just one set in the group stage and none in the knockout rounds.
It was 25-year-old Paola Egonu who was the centre of attention as Italy won 25-18, 25-20, 25-17, finishing with 22 points and four blocks as one of the top scorers at the Paris tournament.
“I’m so happy, so proud, I can’t describe the joy of this group of girls… It’s been a great year,” Egonu said.
The Americans have medaled in each of the past five Olympics, and the silver was their seventh medal overall, more than any other nation in women’s volleyball, but they were no match for Italy on Sunday.
Egonu got Italy off to a stunning start, with the 6-foot-5 player deeply involved in every counterattack both at net defense and on offense, forcing the United States to go into an early timeout after trailing.
Despite the American team’s comeback, Egonu won the first set with a smash, leaving American Chiaka Ogbogu with no chance to fight back.
The second set started evenly matched, but Miriam Sierra’s spikes and strong blocks from Anna Denisi and Sarah Fall gave Italy a temporary lead.
The United States team launched a counterattack again, but Egonu did not make any mistakes on the set point and tied the score to 2-0, which dealt a huge psychological blow to the United States team and caused them to make mistakes in the third game.
Meanwhile, Italy continued to excel at the net, making 11 total blocks, while the Americans were unable to register a single block during the match.
As Italy celebrated every point, their victory seemed inevitable, and when Jordan Thompson’s spike went wide, Italy’s substitutes rushed onto the court to embrace their kneeling teammates and the gold medal was won.
Italy’s Sara Fall said they did not expect to win in straight sets.
“In Tokyo, we were all really sad when we went out in the quarter-finals. This was what we wanted to achieve… and now to be in Paris, to be in the final and to win, it’s crazy,” she said.
American Avery Skinner was disappointed to lose the gold medal but said he still had a lot to be proud of.
“When the summer started, we didn’t think we’d be here,” she said.
“I remember talking to Jordan after the last game and she said we were on ‘Plan F’ here and we made it to the finals.”
Turkey missed out on its first Olympic women’s volleyball medal as Brazil won the bronze medal match 3-1 on Saturday. – Rappler.com
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