US women’s volleyball finally proves good as gold
Jordan Larson fell to the floor, put her head in her hands and cried after Brazil couldn’t return her spike on match point.
The frustration of being so close but not quite good enough was replaced by a feeling of relief after the U.S. women’s volleyball team finally claimed Olympic gold with a 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 victory over Brazil on Sunday.
“I’m still in a state of shock,” Larson said. “I cried more in the last 24 hours than I think I have in my career. I’m not an emotional player, an emotional person. But I think just the emotions got the best of me. I’m now in kind of this euphoria, a state of shock.”
The United States, which had won three silver medals and two bronze since first getting on the medal stand in 1984, got to the top step by beating the team that denied it a chance at gold in the final match of the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Larson, who was part of that silver-winning team in 2012 and the bronze medal team five years ago, paved the way with her leadership on the court and her strong play on the attack and on defense.
Larson and middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson, who both came back for a third Olympics after falling short in Rio de Janeiro, now have a complete medal collection following what is expected to be the final Olympic match of their careers.
The victory also allowed U.S. coach Karch Kiraly to join Lang Ping of China as the second person to win gold as a volleyball player and then lead a country to gold as coach. Kiraly won gold indoor as a player in 1984 and 1988. He also won gold in beach volleyball in 1996.
The U.S. got off to a fast start Sunday by scoring the first four points behind strong attacking by Michelle Bartsch-hackley. It never trailed in the opener, winning it 25-21.
That pattern continued the next two sets as the U.S. ended up winning all nine sets in the knockout round.
Boxing gold drought continues: Richard Torrez Jr. stared up at 6-foot-7 Bakhodir Jalolov and didn’t blink, courageously holding his own and staying on his feet against the most intimidating fighter in Tokyo.
Keyshawn Davis and Andy Cruz traded shots for three thrilling rounds, showing off some of the most polished boxing skills in the entire Olympics.
The final two Americans in the Tokyo field got agonizingly close to ending their team’s 17-year men’s gold medal drought Sunday, only to fall short.
Torrez and Davis still leave Japan believing they’ve started a new era for the once-dominant U.S. team with its best Olympic showing in decades.
“We’re putting boxing back into the USA,” super heavyweight Torrez said. “We’re giving it a surge again.”
The team leaves Tokyo with four medals — the most won by the U.S. since 2000.
Serbia still tops in men’s water polo: Filip Filipovic and Serbia followed a familiar formula all the way to another gold medal.
Nikola Jaksic scored three goals on three shots and Filipovic made several big plays, helping Serbia beat Greece 13-10 in the men’s water polo final Sunday.
Serbia became the first country to repeat as Olympic champion since Hungary won three in a row from 2000 to 2008. It earned its fourth medal in its fourth appearance in the Olympics’ oldest team sport.