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TOKYO – The decades-long quest for the U.S. women’s volleyball team’s first Olympic gold medal ended on Sunday when the Americans finally broke through with a 25-21, 25-20, 25 victory. -14 over Brazil at the Tokyo Games.
The United States, which had won three silver medals and two bronze since their first appearance on the medal gallery in 1984, rose to the top spot by beating the team that denied them a chance to win the gold in the last game of the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Captain Jordan Larson, who was part of that silver medalist squad in 2012 and the bronze medalist squad five years ago, led the way with her leadership on the pitch and solid play in attack and defense. .
Larson and center blocker Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson, who both returned for a third Olympic Games after failing in Rio de Janeiro, now have a full collection of medals after the last Olympic game of their careers.
The victory also saw US coach Karch Kiraly join China’s Lang Ping as the second person to win gold as a volleyball player and then lead a country to gold as a coach. Kiraly won indoor gold as a player in 1984 and 1988. He also won gold in beach volleyball in 1996.
The United States got off to a quick start scoring the first four points behind Michelle Bartsch-Hackley’s solid offense. She never lagged in the first set, winning 25-21 on a soft shot from Bartsch-Hackley that gave her eight points in the set.
The Americans also played forward for most of the second set, and Larson’s well-placed soft shot at net gave them a 22-17 lead. They closed the set when Carol Silva’s serve was long.
This pattern continued in the third set, and the match ended in style with a kill of Larson, completing a sweep by the Americans of the nine sets of the knockout stage. The American players all gathered on the floor in a tearful embrace.
Brazil had won gold in men’s and women’s indoor volleyball at four consecutive Olympic Games, with the men winning the title in 2004 and 2016 and the women in 2008 and 2012.
But she will walk away with just a silver medal this year, after the women lost for the first time in Tokyo after seven straight wins. The men lost a semi-final match against the Russian Olympic Committee team, followed by the bronze medal match against Argentina.
Brazil played the game shorthanded after outside forward Tandara Caixeta was sent home ahead of the semi-finals following her suspension for a potential anti-doping rule violation. Tandara’s attorney said a banned substance found in a July test was accidentally introduced into his system.
The United States has also dealt with absences. Opposing forward Jordan Thompson, who outscored the Americans in the first three games, did not play after rolling his right ankle in the fourth pool game against ROC.
But the depth that made the United States one of the best teams over the past two decades despite missing a gold medal overcame that and an injury that sidelined passer Jordyn Poulter for the quarterfinal. Annie Drews took Thompson’s place and the United States was not lacking.
It has been a long journey to this stadium for an American women’s team that started over 40 years ago when the 1980 Olympic team made the decision to start training all year round, to see each other refused the possibility of competing because of a boycott of the Games in Moscow.
But the foundation was in place, and the Americans have won six medals in the last 10 Olympics and now finally have their gold.
In the bronze medal match, Serbia beat South Korea 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 to come home with a women’s volleyball medal for the second consecutive Olympics. The Serbs won silver in 2016 for their first medal in the sport.
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