Italian volleyball and the curse of the Olympics: the hope of the champions Velasco and Egonu is still extinguished

PARIS There is still a chance to banish the Olympic curse of volleyball. And hope rests on two champions: Julio Velasco and Paola Egonu. This is the curse of the Games: Italy dominates the world scene, creates inventions, exports technicians; but Olympic gold in volleyball always eludes us in the end. Yesterday in the semi-final France were better than us, led by support unheard of even in Beijing 2008; and our players made too many mistakes, in batting and beyond. But, in truth, volleyball is a blessing for us Italians. And not just because the women are here in Paris in the semifinals for the first time in history.

It seems that volleyball has now become a real national sport for Italians; obviously not at club level but at national level (with what the players in blue are doing). Four hundred thousand members. Three Italians must be on the pitch for each team in each match. Fourteen national teams of young and very young people, as well as the women’s Paralympic team that qualified for the sitting volleyball tournament. Not just samples; school, transfer. It is no coincidence that many coaches who serve abroad are Italian. The France that beat us is coached by one of our veterans, Andrea Giani (who didn’t sing the Marseillaise though).

Turkey, who the Italians play in tonight’s final, are led by by Daniele Santarelli, who has been the husband of our libero, Monica De Gennaro, for five years. Poland has Stefano Lavarini as coach. The Serbians who beat us 3-0, after beating us 3-0 in Rio and Tokyo, are coached by another Italian coach, Giovanni Guidetti from Modena. Some time ago, when he managed Turkey (he also married a Turkish player), Guidetti after defeating Italy he introduced the competitive tension and made a sensational gesture with his umbrella to the historic federal president, Carlo Magri of Parma.

When he handed over to the current president, Giuseppe Manfredi from Alberobello, Magri himself had sworn: “As a coach, give whoever you want, anyone, but not Guidetti”. To avoid mistakes, Manfredi took Velasco. The greatest volleyball coach of all time. Only Julio could manage a phenomenon like Paola Egonu. The others could not get off the climb on which a champion takes you who is euphoric one day, angry with the world the next. Now Paola has found stability with a boyfriend, Leonardo Puliti, the manager of his company, Monza; and he found in Velasco the best technical and tactical guidance he could dream of. As an assistant, Julio has his former striker, Lorenzo Bernardi, and the coach with the most titles, Massimo Barbolini: as if Ancelotti was Guardiola’s deputy.

Even the coach of the men’s national team, Fefè De Giorgi, is not kidding. In interviews he is Gascon, extroverted, brilliant, as is his nature as a native Salento. In the field he is a Marine sergeant. Weights in the morning, three and a half hours of training in the afternoon. When he was in charge of Russia, it was customary for the coach to mark the start and end times of training on board. At the appointed time, the Russian athletes left, and he looked at them in amazement. On the next day the following was written on the board in Corilig: “The end of the training: I didn’t see it.” They all stayed until the end.

With Japan, in the quarterfinals, Italy stopped three match points. It was opened when our most representative player, Simone Giannelli from Bolzano – “I’m a South Tyrolean, not an Austrian” -, until then was less brilliant than usual, measuring four serves in a row. Giannelli was a boy in Rio; he is a hero now. A set of two meters, a very fine mind and a spring that knows how to block and crush. «We knew that Japan was the worst team for us» explained De Giorgi. The Azzurri are very technical, it’s not the hammers that scare them; they are technical players like them, not that powerful but very quick. If they give you a wall, you’ve clearly done something wrong; the true frustration is an agile and quick defense, which repels all attacks. Last night Fefè De Giorgi was the last one to give up. He inspired a team to the end; but the spark was lit too late, when the Azzurri stopped three game points in a row again with the force of desperation. In vain. France deserved it, and the day after tomorrow they will defend the gold in Tokyo with Poland, who we clearly beat in the group.

The legend of the curse was born from the lost final four. Apart from the beach volleyball in Rio, which was a nice surprise, the other times we were very fond: Velasco’s Invincibles lost by one ball in Atlanta 1996 against the Netherlands; in Athens 2004 the sextet with Giani as a striker lost against Brazil; in Beijing 2008 the girls lost the final because they had to give up star player Aguero; in Rio 2016 we lost to Brazil who we beat 3-0 in the group. With elimination in water polo, the men’s teams are out of the Games. Now we are holding two new companions: Paola Egonu is the daughter of a truck driver from Lagos and a nurse from Benin City; Julio Velasco escaped from the Argentine dictatorship; both chose to be Italian, and today they are our volleyball.