Brazilian women aiming for the three-peat

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5, 2016 – Hosts and Olympic reigning champions Brazil begin their quest for a three-peat as the women’s volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games gets underway on Saturday at the iconic Maracanazinho Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

The Brazilians, who triumphed at the FIVB World Grand Prix this year, are seeking to join Cuba as the teams to win three consecutive gold medals in the history of women’s volleyball in the Olympic Games. The Cubans achieved the feat in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

Even though the home side is secured of receiving strong support from the crowd expected to pack the stands, the road to a potential third straight gold medal could be one full of high hurdles given the high level of quality represented by a group of top contenders that includes world champions and world’s top ranked United States.

Complete Match Schedule

“Our expectations are to play well and do our best and playing at home makes this Olympic tournament the most important,” said a cautious Brazilian coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes on Thursday.

Brazil’s first match on Saturday will be against African champions Cameroon at 14:00 (local time) in Pool A that includes 4th world-ranked Russia, Japan (5th), Korea (9th) and Argentina (12th).

The United States side finished second to Brazil in the last two editions of the Olympic Games at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and arrives here full of …

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