Volleyball Review: "The most intense Olympic volleyball game in history"
2024-08-13
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On August 11, American player Washington (right) was in the game. On the same day, in the women's volleyball final of the Paris Olympics, the Italian team defeated the American team 3-0 and won the championship. Xinhua News Agency reporter Ju HuanzongThe volleyball competitions at the Paris Olympics ended on the 11th. Italy and France won the women's and men's championships respectively. The Italian women's volleyball team won the Olympic medal for the first time, while the French team successfully defended the title. The Chinese women's volleyball team won all three games in the group stage of this Olympics and finally ranked fifth.
Many athletes and coaches, including U.S. men's volleyball captain Micah Christensen, U.S. women's volleyball head coach Killary, and Serbian women's volleyball coach Guidetti, have said that this Olympic volleyball tournament is the most intense in history.
Why? First of all, there are major changes to the rules for Olympic qualification and Olympic group stage promotion.
In the process of scrambling for Olympic qualification, the competition among teams has reached a fever pitch. The places for this Olympic volleyball tournament are determined by the qualifying tournament and the world rankings. According to the new rules of the FIVB, the results of every World Volleyball League match before the Olympics will affect the rankings. Teams that aspire to participate in the Olympic Games have to go all out and show their form early in the two seasons before the Olympics, and continue to do so until the Olympics.
The group stage of this Olympics was full of suspense. On the basis of the top two teams in each group and the two best third-placed teams advancing, the new rules for the quarterfinals meant that losing any group match could be disastrous, and it was difficult for teams to accurately choose their opponents in the knockout stage by calculating points. The Japanese women's volleyball team was eliminated after the group stage, and the Chinese women's volleyball team, which played well in the group stage, encountered the "tough nut" Turkey team in the first game of the knockout stage for this reason.
The characteristics of this Olympic Games volleyball competition are that there are many tough matches. For example, the Chinese and American women's volleyball teams played a five-set battle in the first round of the group stage. The most regrettable match for Chinese fans was the quarter-finals, when the Chinese women's volleyball team lost to the Turkish team 2:3. The two teams, who were ranked similar in the world, staged a stalemate without any "boring moments" throughout the game.
The reason for the major revision of the rules, especially the elevation of the importance of the World Volleyball League in obtaining Olympic qualifications, is that the FIVB intends to enhance the competitiveness of volleyball and enhance the global influence of volleyball, thereby promoting related commercial operations.
During the Olympics, FIVB President Graca bluntly stated that his and the organization's goal was to make volleyball games more exciting and more attractive in the international competitive sports market - otherwise this sport will be ignored, and the Olympics will not be able to allocate the best venues and ticketing resources to volleyball and beach volleyball.
"The most intense Olympic volleyball game in history" is a reflection of the improvement in the competitive level of world volleyball and is also the result expected by the FIVB.
Another fierce aspect of the volleyball competition in this Olympics is that many teams are not easily defeated even in "adverse situations". For example, in the men's volleyball quarter-finals, the Italian team was behind 0:2 and turned the tables after Japan took the first game point in the third game. The Chinese team is no longer easily affected by the opponent's strong serve rounds in this Olympics...
The reason is that the players have been trained intensively in the increasingly professional domestic leagues and the World Volleyball League. The superior strength of the Italian women's volleyball team in both offense and defense is inseparable from the support of the world's leading women's volleyball league; the Turkish women's volleyball team, which has been rising rapidly in recent years, also relies on the prosperous Turkish league.
In terms of men's volleyball, France was not considered to have a deep volleyball tradition before winning the Tokyo Olympics. Its rapid progress is inseparable from the long-term battles of its main players in mature leagues in Italy, Poland, etc. With the continuous improvement of the competitive level of the domestic league, the strength of the Japanese men's volleyball team has also reached a level that can compete head-on with European powerhouses.
After the women's volleyball team was completely defeated by the Italian team in the final, the head coach of the US team, Kiraly, was not discouraged, but looked forward to the Los Angeles Olympics four years later. He is looking forward to the LOVB Pro, a professional women's volleyball league in the United States, which will start in January 2025. He believes that this league is expected to attract the world's top players to compete with American players, thus providing more experience and talent reserves for the US women's volleyball team.
Following this trend, this "most intense Olympic volleyball game in history" will most likely be surpassed in the future.
