22nd august
2008 Beijing (CHN)

Philip Dalhausser is a long- limb giant; amazingly quick in the sand despite of his 206 cm. He is a fantastic blocker, a good receiver and, obviously, an excellent spiker. His team-mate Todd Rogers, a defense specialist, is smaller (187 cm tall) but with surprising spiking abilities. In BVB, finding the right balance between the two athletes is very difficult: one has to be tall to well perform in blocking but also needs to be technically talented in passing and ball controlling. The second player has to mix the digging skills with the power to kill the ball. This is the secret of the two US gold medalists: both of them are the best in their roles. Moreover, their psychological steadiness, which relies also on their technical ability, is unique. The BVB Olympic tournament final ended 2–1 but the US team seemed to be in control of the match also when the Brazilians won the second set. After a slow beginning Dalhausser found the right timing to block Fabio Luiz and T. Rogers displayed his wide range of attacks. As always, the BVB ambience is very joyful and the athletes are particularly easy going. After the last match, just before leaving Beijing, many players calmly took pictures with the smiling Chinese volunteers achieving the perfect Olympic greeting.

Then, I quickly moved to see the first Men’s Semi-Final. USA-Russia was a long tough struggle played at the highest technical level, with very few errors and without any possibilities to predict the outcome. The US team displayed their usual amazing defense skills, organized blocks and the amazing ability to keep on playing without any drop in attention . They never give up. Not even today, when they were two sets ahead and the Russians suddenly started to get better both physically and emotionally. Many times I have described the Russian players as athletes unable to fully exploit their great talent. Today Alekno’s players performed very close to their best and, although they lost, they can be proud of themselves. I know that players after a defeat don’t care at all about any kind of congratulations. They feel only frustrations, disappointments and regrets. Thus, do never try to console or soothe an athlete when he is walking out after a bad defeat. Let him alone because those sad moments are very significant in a player´s career and to be experienced in solitude. That’s why, soon after the match I couldn’t even try to stop the Russian players to get a comment. Only 20 or 30 minutes later the athletes can take on their public duties, speaking with the journalists. The winners instead can immediately show their joy with the team-mates, fans and also reporters. The victory is exciting and electrifying and can be shared.

The second semifinal was a tense and nervous match for both teams. Up to now, the Brazilian performances in the Olympic tournament haven´t been as excellent as in the last six years. They are perfectly aware that the attacking and defense automatisms, which made them “the best team”, are a little jammed. However, they use this difficulty to improve even more their emotional approach. Their energy, their determination and their willpower were and still remain the secret of their successes. Technically speaking, they can be defeated but emotionally they are still a wonderful team. The Italians instead, were doubtful due to some successless years successless. They started very good but, in the second set when the Brazilians raised their level, the Italians failed responding to support the technical pressure. This can partly be understood as I have to recall that Italy from the beginning played without the Libero Mirko Corsano and from the third set without L. Mastrangelo, who got injured in the ankle. Missing of two important players affected the Italians` confidence, but they kept on playing strong-minded . Yet the Italians aren’t stable enough to overcome the opponents´ challenges and a adverse destiny.

Bye bye andrea zorzi