Volleyball stars honored in Olympic celebration in Brazil

Brazilian volleyball and beach volleyball stars were honored in the country’s Olympic Committee’s annual awarding event ‘Prêmio Brasil Olímpico’, which was held in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.

Brazilian women’s national team captain Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimarães, legendary head coach José ‘Zé Roberto’ Guimarães and beach volleyball Olympic medalists Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa, Ana Patrícia Ramos and Ágatha Bednarczuk were all recognized in the country’s traditional Olympic sports year-ending event.

Gabi, who couldn’t attend the event as she’s preparing to appear in the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship with Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, was recognized as Brazil’s top volleyball player in 2024. This season, the outside hitter led Brazil to take bronze at the Paris Olympics.

The coach of the Brazilian women’s volleyball national team for over two decades, Zé Roberto received the prestigious ‘Adhemar Ferreira da Silva’ award, named after the country’s legendary two-time Olympic champion in athletics. A five-time Olympic medalist, the 70-year-old Zé Roberto became just the 23^rd sportsperson in the country to receive the award – former volleyball players Bernard Rajzman, Bernardinho Rezende and Jackie Silva are among them.

The Paris 2024 Olympics beach volleyball gold medalists, Duda and Ana Patrícia were recognized as the country’s beach volleyball team of the season. It was the third straight time the two were selected and the sixth straight for Duda, who had taken the award home three times while playing with Ágatha, who was also honored in the event.

The 41-year-old blocker, who retired this past weekend, at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals, in Doha, was among the players who announced the end of their careers in 2024 to receive a special tribute from the Olympic Committee. The highlights of her career on the sand were winning the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics and gold at the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.