Athletistic / Olympic Games. Volleyball made its Olympic debut in 1964 in Tokyo. The first gold medal in the history of this sport among men was won by the USSR national team. Four years later, at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Soviet volleyball players repeated their success. Then the USSR team won bronze (Munich 1972) and silver (Montreal 1976) medals, until in 1980 in Moscow they again climbed to the top step of the podium. But then it was as if it was cut off.

They had to wait 20 years for the next Olympic medal, until the Russian team won silver at the Sydney Games in 2000, losing in the final to Yugoslavia. In Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, the Russians took a step back, but each time they became bronze medalists, which was considered a very good result. However, there was still no “gold”. Already 32 years…

The 2012 Summer Olympics were held in London. These Olympics as a whole turned out to be successful for Russia, but a gold medal in team sports was not enough for a brilliant ending. By the way, for the first time in 12 years, Russian volleyball players reached the Olympic final.

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The Russian national volleyball team has never won the Olympic Games in its history (victories in the Soviet era are not counted). Belarusian Vladimir Alekno was recognized as the one who returned Russian volleyball to its former greatness. When he first joined the national team (2007-2008), it achieved bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, after which he left the national team for three years. In 2011, under his leadership, the Russian national team won for the first time in the history of Russia two tournaments under the auspices of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) – the World League and the World Cup. It was at the last tournament that the Russians won the right to participate in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

In the group stage of the Olympic tournament, the Russian team won four victories in five matches (Germany, Tunisia and Serbia – all 3:0 and the USA – 3:2), but took only third place in Group B due to the crushing defeat of Brazil – 0:3.

Photo source: AFP

From the third place at the beginning of the playoffs (in the quarterfinals), the Russian team qualified for Poland. Before the start of the meeting, the Poles were considered the favorites of the match, but in the end they were destroyed by the team of Vladimir Alekno – 0:3. In the semifinals, the Russians confidently beat Bulgaria (3:1) and reached the long-awaited final. There was only one step left to make their most cherished dream come true, but the problem was that in the final the Russians faced the Brazilian national team. This team was absolutely invincible and included living legends of world sports.

On August 12, the closing day of the London Olympics, the Russian team met the Brazilian team. In the first two games, the South Americans dominated the Russians head and shoulders, beating them with scores of 25:19 and 25:20. Alekno’s players did not succeed at all. For one of the best players on the planet, diagonal Maxim Mikhailov, everything was very bad, and the game of this Russian team was closely related to him. This was in sharp contrast to the way the Brazilians flew around the court, winning back even the most desperate balls and extending their serves on the lines. Only a miracle could save the Russian team.

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After the second match, Vladimir Alekno seemed to have disconnected from what was happening for a few seconds: he looked up in confusion, not paying attention to his players. It turned out that in those seconds he made a brilliant move that decided the outcome of the Olympics. The head coach of the Russian national team transferred blocker Dmitry Musersky to a completely unusual and unusual diagonal position, which is why Maxim Mikhailov went to the final team.

The third set was already much more equal than the previous two. However, this did not prevent the Brazilian team from serving several times for the match. At that moment, absolutely every game could have been the last in the match. However, the Russian team saved itself and, with the score of 27:27, managed to win two points in a row and close the match – 29:27. For almost the entire second half of the match, the Russians played on Musersky, bombarding balls into the opponent’s half of the court.

In the fourth set, Musersky improved incredibly and put the Brazilians in a sound state. The Russians confidently led the entire fourth game, but in the end they allowed their opponents to come closer and closed the match with a score of 25:22. The fate of the Olympic gold will be decided in a tiebreaker!

It seemed that in the decisive match, the whole game would be equal and the teams would try to act as reliably as possible. However, in reality, everything happened completely differently: the Russian team simply destroyed the Brazilians and left no chance of success to the opponent. The set ended with a score of 15:9, although it could have ended a few games earlier. The Russian national team won an Olympic gold medal in men’s volleyball for the first time in 32 years!

Photo source: IOC

This victory gave Russia unforgettable emotions. In ordinary life, volleyball is inferior in popularity to many sports, but people rejoiced and celebrated the victory of Vladimir Alekno’s team no less than after the bronze medal at the Euro 2008 football championship or the victory of the hockey team at the 2008 World Cup in Quebec.

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Dmitry Musersky scored 31 points in the match against the Brazilians, setting a record for the Olympic volleyball final. And the legendary Sergei Tetyukhin became the only winner of four Olympic medals in men’s volleyball. 11 players of the Russian national team were awarded the Order of Friendship by the head of state, and Sergei Tetyukhin and Vladimir Alekno were awarded the Order of Honor.

This success would have been unthinkable without the wonderful atmosphere within the team. Vladimir Alekno managed to unite the team and the volleyball players managed to put the team’s interests well before their own. This story definitely deserves a film adaptation: it would be great to relive these emotions again, but now through a feature film.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic



Athletistic