PARIS (AP) — Monica De Gennaro of Italy made three previous trips to the Olympics only to leave empty-handed each time.
Finally, at age 37, she’s going home with the gold.
Italy beat the defending champion U.S. team Sunday to win gold in women’s volleyball at the Paris Olympics.
“It feels special,” she said. “It’s the dream of every player to play in the final of the Olympics and win it. It is something unique. We worked so hard for so many years to be able to reach this final.”
When Italy scored the match point to end it, many of the players collapsed to the court, then began hugging in a huge scrum. Together they tossed De Gennaro into the air.
The victory came in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-17. The Italians ended a dominant tournament having lost just one set.
It’s the first medal in the sport for top-ranked Italy and sends the Americans home in disappointment after they won their first Olympic title in Tokyo. It’s a huge win for the Italians, whose previous best Olympic finish was fifth.
“It means everything,” Alessia Orro said. “There’s a lot of hard work, a lot of sweat, many sacrifices and many disappointments that have brought us this far. They made us take this path, they made us win the gold.”
The victory came in front of a boisterous crowd at South Paris Arena, where many fans waved Italian and U.S. flags. People danced and cheered as the Italians romped to the win.
The U.S. was up 6-5 in the third set before Italy scored the next seven points to take a 12-6 lead. The Americans fought back, scoring three of the next four points.
The U.S. got within 19-16 before Italy closed it out with a 6-1 run capped by the match point by Paola Egonu, who had a dominant performance, scoring 22 points.
“It’s magnificent,” Italy’s Caterina Bosetti said. “It’s the match that I’ve been waiting for all my life.”
Myriam Sylla beamed while wearing her gold medal as she spoke to reporters after the win. The 29-year-old, who was a first-time Olympian, was asked how it felt around her neck.
“It’s heavy like … the journey that we did to achieve it,” she said.
The silver finish by the Americans gives them a seventh Olympic medal to make them the winningest country in the volleyball.
“I will walk away being very proud that we were able to play on the last day of competition,” American Jordyn Poulter said. “And I think it feels even more sweet to us because of just all that we have gone through as a team.”
Italy swept Turkey in straight sets to reach the final while the U.S. beat Brazil in a five-set thriller for its spot in the game.
U.S. coach Karch Kiraly changed the lineup after a five-set loss to China on July 29 to start group-stage play. He moved veterans Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook to the bench in favor of Avery Skinner and Kathryn Plummer.
The move worked, and the team defeated Serbia the next time out to get back on track. But on Sunday, it wasn’t enough to get past the mighty Italian team and repeat as champions.
Kiraly was impressed with the way his team fought through adversity to reach the final.
“It was absolutely awesome to see that when we got pushed to the limit … how capable this group was, how much resolve it had, how much grit it had,” he said. “That was probably the best thing to learn in these Olympics.”
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