European nations storm into Olympic semi-finals
European nations comprise three of the four semi-finalists in the men’s volleyball at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after some exciting matches as the knockouts started on Monday 5th August.
Poland sit atop the FIVB World Rankings and they showed why with a dominant 3-1 win over Slovenia. The Slovenians had topped their pool but were, ultimately, no match for Poland. The two nations split the first two sets but then Poland hit the accelerator and pulled away, taking the third and fourth sets to break their Olympic quarter-final curse, having fallen at that stage in each of the last five Games.
Polish talisman Wilfredo Leon led his team in scoring with 20 points, and was his usual self from the service line, winning five points on serve, more than anyone else in the match. Bartosz Kurek also had 19 points to help Poland reach their first Olympic semi-final since 1980.
Slovenia had Klemen Cebulj and Tine Urnaut to thank for a battling performance in their first-ever Olympic quarter-final.
Poland will face USA in the semi-finals after the Americans prevailed in one of the longest-running rivalries in the sport, taking down Brazil. Unlike Poland, USA are no strangers to the latter stages of the Olympic tournament. This is their seventh trip to the semi-finals in the last 11 Games, and they have earned a medal from five of those visits.
The other semi-final is an all-European affair as hosts and reigning Olympic champions France take on world No. 2 and Rio 2016 silver medallists Italy.
Both teams were on the brink in the quarter-finals, needing spectacular comebacks to reach the final four, and produced when they needed to most. Italy trailed 2-0 and were 24-21 down in the third set against reigning world champions Japan, but produced a sensational performance to win in five sets. Alessandro Michieletto proved to be the Italian talisman with 24 points, ably assisted by Yuri Romano and Daniele Lavia who each had 19.
Italy know how to win in Olympic knockout competition. In the last seven Games, they have earned five medals, finishing fourth one other time and only losing in the quarterfinals once, in Tokyo three years ago. However, despite earning six Olympic medals in men’s volleyball, they have never managed to claim the elusive gold.
Olympic hosts France had a raucous crowd for their quarter-final against Germany, and they certainly helped the team turn things around. The reigning Olympic champions lost the first two sets but also battled back to win in a decisive fifth set, earning a second consecutive trip to the semi-finals.
Earvin Ngapeth and Trevor Clevenot led the way for France with 21 and 20 points respectively, and France will have an opportunity to add a second Olympic medal to their gold from Tokyo.
The semi-finals will take place on Wednesday 7th August.