Italy: Time is ripe to make Olympic medals round

Three times Italy's women have come within touching distance of an Olympic semifinal - three times they've gone down without getting a shot at a medal.

Italy made their Olympic debut at Sydney 2000, failing to make it out of pool play and finishing 9th.

But by Athens 2004 they had become a force to be reckoned with, though they fell to then defending champions mighty Cuba in an epic five-setter quarterfinal. It was five sets again at the Beijing 2008 quarterfinals against USA. And at London 2012 Italy blew a one-set lead as they got knocked out by Korea in four sets.

Italy began building a new generation at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where they were eliminated after pool play, finishing 9th.

That generation has now grown and matured and should be ready to claim the position they deserve at the Tokyo Olympics, despite the disruption the pandemic has caused in keeping them out of action for a year and a half.

There's as many as six returning players from Rio 2016 who are poised to make it through to the medals round this year: Alessia Orro, Anna Danesi, Cristina Chirichella, Miriam Sylla, Paola Egonu and Monica De Gennaro.

Libero De Gennaro will become a three-time Olympian this year. She's one of two players to have played at London 2012, alongside outside hitter Caterina Bosetti (who missed out on Rio 2016), who are on Italy's front line again, nine years later.

Like Serbia, Italy decided to sit out the 2021 Volleyball Nations League, taking a different approach to preparing for the big event of the Tokyo Olympics.

Instead, their build-up to the Olympics included a series of friendlies against Serbia. Italy were hardly convincing in any of these matches and there's a number of questions coach Davide Mazzanti should be asking ahead of the Tokyo Games:

How to get the right balance in attacking efficiency and receiving between Miriam Sylla and Bosetti; who can distribute play better amongst his two setters, Alessia Orro and Ofelia Malinov; and is there an alternative solution to bringing the points in if Paola Egonu is not in absolutely top-notch condition?

Italy are already in Japan and Mazzanti will have another two opportunites to test his team ahead of the Olympics in friendly games against Brazil today and South Korea on 22 July, the eve of the Opening Ceremony.

Watch what Miriam Sylla, Paola Egonu and coach Davide Mazzanti had to say ahead of Italy's Tokyo 2020 Olympics campaign.

Italy are two-time European champions and have won the World Championship and the World Cup - but an Olympic medal of any colour still eludes them. Has the time come?

Full Olympic roster for Italy, under head coach Davide Mazzanti:

● Setters:
Alessia Orro, Ofelia Malinov

● Opposite:
Paola Egonu

● Outisde hitters:
Caterina Bosetti, Elena Pietrini, Miriam Sylla, Indre Sorokaite

● Middle blockers:
Cristina Chirichella, Anna Danesi, Sarah Fahr, Raphaela Folie

● Libero:
Monica De Gennaro