Rematches of Athens 2004 for gold and bronze in Rio 2016

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 19, 2016 – Brazil and Italy have set themselves up a rematch of the Athens 2004 final, when both qualified to Sunday’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games men’s volleyball gold medal match after impressive appearances in Friday’s semifinals against Russia and USA respectively.It’s a record fourth straight and sixth overall Olympic Games final for Brazil, who won gold medals in Barcelona 1992 (over The Netherlands) and Athens 2004. Italy will be taking their third shot at their first ever gold medal, after losing in the finals of Atlanta 1996 (to The Netherlands) and Athens 2004.

USA, the Beijing 2008 gold medallists, and Russia, the defending champions from London 2012, will play for bronze on Sunday morning – also a rematch of the Athens 2004 bronze medal game, which Russia won in straight sets.Semifinal proceedings opened with a match as close and intense as they come, with some huge serving, unbelievable digging and colossal spiking that found Italy just that little bit stronger in the fourth set to force a tie-break and then overwhelming in the fifth to edge USA 3-2 (30-28, 26-28, 9-25, 25-22, 15-13).Brazil followed suit with a solid sweep of Russia 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-17) in less than an hour and a half. It was a very welcome result for Brazil fans in the once again sold out Maracanazinho, after they had seen their team struggle through pool play.Brazil players celebrate advancing to their fourth consecutive Olympic Games final.The men’s final is scheduled for Sunday at 13:15 at the Maracanazinho, shortly before the Closing Ceremony of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad right next door at the Maracana Stadium. The final will be preceeded by the bronze medal match at 09:30.Summary …

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