France one win away from defending Olympic title at Paris 2024

France's dream of successfully defending the Olympic title they won three years ago in Tokyo in front of their home fans at the Paris 2024 Games is as close to becoming reality as it's ever been as Les Bleus (The Blues, in French) overcame the penultimate obstacle standing in their way, triumphing in the semifinals on Wednesday.

Playing at the South Paris Arena 1 in front of over 10,000 fans, with the vast majority supporting them since the starting serve, the defending champions took world champions Italy down with an emphatic 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-21) victory that took them back to the Olympic gold medal match.

France will play Poland in the all-European Paris 2024 final, which is scheduled to start at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Saturday. Italy will face the United States for bronze on Friday, at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT).

"This is amazing," star outside hitter Earvin Ngapeth reacted. "We came into this match saying that we needed a perfect performance to win and, to be honest, this was actually beyond perfect. We knew that even two sets down they wouldn't give up and just kept pushing. The fans were a big part of it. With them on our side, everything is easier. In the final, we need to do as we did today. We'll prepare well and try to deliver another performance like this."

It will be the second major duel between French and Polish in just over a month as at the start of July the two national teams met in the Volleyball Nations League 2024 semifinals, with the Olympic champions coming out on top in the tie-breaker in Poland's homecourt Łódź.

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

Set to make just their second appearance in a gold medal match in the Games, the French could become the third nation to successfully defend a men's Olympic title and the first in 36 years - the former USSR did it first, winning in Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968, while the United States did the same in Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988.

They could also be the fourth team to celebrate a gold medal in front of their home fans, joining the former USSR (Moscow 1980), the United States (Los Angeles 1984) and Brazil (Rio 2016). France's squad at Paris 2024 has ten players who won gold in Tokyo three years ago.

Italy, on the other hand, will play for their seventh medal, having won three bronzes and three silvers in seven semifinal appearances to date.

The victory also moved the teams in the FIVB World Ranking as while the French collected 14.30 points and gained three spots, going from fifth to second with 361.78, the Italians moved in the opposite direction, going from second to third, now with 359.17.

One of France's most consistent players in their campaign at the Paris 2024 Games, outside hitter Trévor Clévenot had another strong display in the semifinals, leading the team with 17 points (15 kills, two blocks). Fellow outside hitter Ngapeth added another 15, with 13 kills and two aces.

"Today it was one of those nights when things just go perfectly and we can't really explain why," French captain Benjamin Toniutti commented. "And to get one of those performances in one of the most important matches of our lives, it just feels great. We saw Italy coming back out of nowhere in the quarterfinals against Japan and that made us remain focused until the last point. The fans are cheering us all the time and when we are a couple of points down, it feels like we're ahead. That gives us more motivation, we want to fight for them. It's been a dream to play the Olympics at home and we hope it continues this way in the final."

With outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto limited to just seven points, Italy relied on Yuri Romanò and middle blocker Roberto Russo to score - the opposite delivered ten points (all in kills), while the middle blocker contributed another nine, with seven kills and two blocks.

"We didn't play very well today," Michieletto reflected. "They were much better than us at serving, passing and hitting. We could never react and lost in a very bad way. I really didn't like our team spirit today. But we're still going to play for bronze, which is a big honor. It's going to be a tough night, but after that, we need to be grateful that we can still go back home with a medal and earn it."

France's offense was a major reason for their sound victory as the defending champions topped the Italians in that area of the game by 44 points to 33 - they were better from the service line (six aces to three) too and got more points from errors (20 to 19). Italy had the edge in blocks (seven to five), but it wasn't enough.

Women’s semifinals on Thursday

On Thursday, it will be time to know the women’s finalists of the Paris 2024 Games. Brazil and the United States will play first, at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT), with Italy and Türkiye meeting later, at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT).

The women’s bronze medal match is scheduled for Saturday, at 17:15 local time (13:00 GMT), with the final ending the volleyball tournament at the South Paris Arena 1, on Sunday, at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT).

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