Italy make history in Paris and advance to first Olympic final

One of the most traditional nations in international volleyball, Italy managed to check an important box from their list at the Paris 2024 Games on Thursday as the country’s women’s national team advanced to the Olympic final for the first time, guaranteeing a historical medal in the event.

Meeting Türkiye for the second time in four days as the teams had battled in pool play last Sunday, the Italians were again dominant, producing a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) victory at the South Paris Arena 1 to overcome the semifinal round.

The FIVB World Ranking leaders are now set to face defending champions the United States for gold on Sunday, at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), while the Turkish will fight for their first-ever Olympic medal on Saturday, at 17:15 local time (15:15 GMR), against Brazil.

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

Currently in their seventh-straight Olympic appearance after having qualified for the first time in Sydney 2000, the Italians are guaranteed a medal and will try to become the seventh different nation to take gold among the women, joining Japan, the former USSR, China, Cuba, Brazil and the United States.

On their way to the final in Paris, the Europeans have produced five victories, with just one set lost, and are the only of the two finalists to get to the gold medal match undefeated.

"This is amazing, I feel like I'm just going to be able to process everything that's happening here in Paris in a month from now," Italian captain Anna Danesi said. "To think that in less than two days I'll have an Olympic medal on my chest is incredible, but now we need to do all we can to make sure it's gold. The United States played a really good match against Brazil and are the Olympic champions. They are very used to playing matches like these while we're still kind of new to them, so I don't really know what to expect. I just hope we can enjoy that match."

Star opposite Paola Egonu continued to be the centerpiece in the Italian offense and responded well in their biggest match in the tournament so far, producing a match-high 24 points (21 kills, two aces, one block) against the Turkish. Outside hitter Myriam Sylla was another important player in the Italian victory, contributing 12 points (11 kills, one ace).

"It's not easy to play a team you faced just a few days ago," outside hitter Caterina Bosetti reflected. "We tried to make sure we would stay focused on the match and I think we did a good job with it. In the difficult moments, we remembered one thing our coach (Julio Velasco) always tells us, which is to focus on 'here and now' and that was very helpful. People are telling us we made history already, but we want to win gold and we need to keep this same approach for the final."

Turkish scoring machine Melissa Vargas had a somewhat quiet night to her standards, leaving the court with 17 points (all in kills) to her name. With the opposite's limited offensive production, outside hitter Derya Cebecioğlu had a solid performance off the bench, delivering seven points.

"We really wanted to win this semifinal, but we couldn't because Italy were really calm while we couldn't control our game," Turkish captain Eda Erdem commented. "Even when we had the lead, we couldn't finish the sets. We're very sad now, but being in the semifinals is a great thing for us. We want to finish with a medal, I'm sure Brazil want it too, but we'll do our best. We know them very well and we'll need to serve better because if they receive well, their side out is just too strong."

The Italians scored more points than the Turkish in every skill, beating them in kills (46 to 44), blocks (11 to eight) and aces (five to zero) - they also played a clean match, giving up just 11 points in errors to Türkiye's 13.

Men’s bronze medal match on Friday

On Friday, the first volleyball medalists of the Paris 2024 Games will be crowned, with the men’s bronze medal match between the United States and Italy taking place at the South Paris Arena 1, at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT).

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Olympic Games Paris 2024
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