article by Nicola Pucci
Since volleyball was introduced to the Games, i.e. from the 1964 Tokyo edition, the five tournaments staged in the women’s field celebrated the triumphs of only two teams, the USSR capable of winning three times, 1968, 1972 and 1980, and Japan to score a double, 1964 and 1976. But When it’s time to play in Los Angeles, 1984the counterboycott imposed by the socialist bloc forces the holders of the Olympic title to withdraw, opening up an unexpected scenario to the range of favourites.
In California, from July 30 to August 7, there are eight teams presentincluding the top three of the 1982 World Cup played in Peru, namely the South Americans, who came second, China, who took the world title in their pocket, and the United States, third on that occasion but who in Los Angeles they leverage the field factor in the hope of winning Olympic gold, in addition to Japan, fourth in the World Cup and second in the World Cup in 1981 when China itself achieved its first great success at international level but then won the 1983 Asian Championship.
The Chinese are particularly awaitedtherefore, not only to confirm the two successes obtained in the four-year period that followed the 1980 Moscow Games, but above all for the fact that Los Angeles is their first participation in the Olympics, and they have every intention of adding the five-ring gold medal to the world championship one. Dragged by the talent of Lang Ping, the charisma of captain Zhang Rongfang and the tactical audacity on the bench of coach Yuan Weimin, at the helm of the national team since 1976 when he was called to revive the fortunes of Chinese volleyball, desolately only 14th in the 1974 World Cup played in Mexico.
The eight teams are divided into two groups of four each, with the first two entering the final-four for the medals and the third and fourth-placed teams having to settle for the consolation tournament for placings from fifth to eighth place, and if Group A pits China, the United States, Brazil and West Germany against each other (with the latter having taken the place of the USSR), Group B consists of Japan, Peru, Canada and South Korea (with the last two to replace Cuba and East Germany, themselves absent due to having joined the socialist counterboycott).
China and the USA, therefore, are called to face each other already in the first round, and if the two big favorites of the tournament guarantee passage to the semi-finals by winning both the first two matches against Brazil and West Germany (double 3-0 for the Asians, 3-0 against the Germans and a very difficult 3-2 comeback from 0 -2 against Brazil for the hosts), here they are against each other in the last match to define first place in the group. China and the USA, in fact, met 8 times in the months preceding the Games, with 7 victories for Yuan Weimin’s sextet, but at the end Long Beach Arena the more experienced Americans prevail (15-13 7-15 16-14 15-12), guaranteeing the lead with full points.
In Group B, the predictions from the day before are respected, with Japan taking full spoils with three successes, and Perudefeated by the Asians with a clear 3-0, to compete for access to the semi-finals for the medals in the last match, finally resolved with a dramatic 15-13 in the decisive set against South Koreaafter squandering a two-set lead.
On August 5th, therefore, the two cross semi-finals are staged, USA-Peru and the China-Japan Asian derbyand, exactly the same as the World Cup in Lima. What if coach Arie Selinger’s sextet made up for their defeat at the time, having no problems prevailing with a clear 3-0with some trouble only in the first set (16-14 15-9 15-10) and an impeccable performance by spiker Julie Vollertsen, supported by the effective blocking of Rose Magers and the monumental Flo Hyman (who unfortunately died on the court one year later, victim of an aortic aneurysm), the world champions, with Lang Ping on their shields, in turn avenged the defeat of the Asian Championships by beating their Japanese rivals with an even more rounded score15-10 15-7 15-4 (curiously, 45-21 like at the Peruvian World Cup), qualifying for the final which will therefore replicate the challenge already played against the hosts in the group stage.
And on August 7, at 8:00 pm local time, in one Long Beach Arena packed in every order of place, China not only chases away the ghosts produced by the defeat four days earlier, but also mocks the clumsy presumption of the Americans (to the point that the coach and some players had themselves filmed on television before the match with the gold medal around their necks), with Lang Ping, seeing the video, encouraging his teammates “let’s take the medals off his neck“, and then drag them to victory on the pitch.
It ends with a 3-0 that allows no repliesat the end of an impeccable performance, suffering in the first set, 16-14, to then spread in the second set, 15-3, and completing the triumph in the third set, 15-9, with Lang Ping herself, who hammered relentlessly and opened gigantic breaches in the stars-and-stripes defense, which crumbles in the blink of an eye, which she was finally proclaimed best player of the tournament.
And if the absent ones are always wrong, welcome to the Olympus of volleyball in China. Undisputed queen in the land of America.
2023-12-31 11:56:59
#CHINAS #GOLDEN #DEBUT #WOMENS #VOLLEYBALL #LOS #ANGELES #SportHistoria
