Olympic Games: France in solid gold in volleyball in Tokyo 2021
France's Earvin Ngapeth spikes in the volleyball final of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. Getty Images - Chris Graythen
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
2 min
The French men's volleyball team won the first gold medal in its history at the Olympic Games, this August 7, by beating the Russian selection 3 sets to 2 in the final of the Tokyo 2021 tournament. This result rewards the efforts of a generation of players determined to promote their sport in France.
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From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
Their joy is indescribable at the final whistle.
Cries mingle with tears and an improbable French cancan.
The Blues wrote the most beautiful page in the history of French volleyball, this August 7, 2021 in Tokyo, five years after the Rio Games from which they had been eliminated without glory.
Inexperienced, the Habs were then trampled in the main lines.
An impressive ramp-up
This time, and despite a complicated start to the tournament with three defeats in five matches, Laurent Tillie's proteges have been able to raise their level of play over the course of this Olympic fortnight.
After overthrowing the Polish world champions in the quarterfinals (3-2) then dominating the Argentines, the French offered themselves Russia, in the final of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. The nation with the most titles at the Olympic Games for men, with four gold medals [1], deceived during the first set, before Earvin Ngapeth and his partners reversed the trend: 25-23.
During the second set, the Blues remain under control and pocket 25-17.
The Russians are fighting back
The third and very disputed and eludes them however (21-25).
Manhandled in the fourth, the French race behind and yield by the same score (21-25).
The last round is unbreathable.
It takes a large Ngapeth (23 points) to fold the Slavic selection 15-12.
The French team, set up by Laurent Tillie for the most part in 2012, won the first gold medal in the history of French volleyball, after already being crowned in the European Championship (2015) and in the World League ( 2015 and 2017).
A truly golden generation.
[1] Three gold medals for the USSR and one for Russia.
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Olympic Games
2020 Olympics
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