U.S. Women's Volleyball Wins Silver at Paris Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympics was almost a golden win for the American women's volleyball team. At the last Olympic games in 2020, the US took home the victory, so the odds were favorable for the American team four years later. The US women's volleyball team has been one of the best in the world for years and they kept that reputation throughout the Olympics, winning against their dominating rival, Brazil. The 2024 Olympics was almost a repeat of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. However, when the final point was secured, the US team won silver while Italy collected the gold medal. 

“Brazil could easily be favored, but they instead hold nice +500 odds. I’d go with them or USA to win this thing, with the Brazilian team narrowly getting the nod,” said (Scores and Stats). The US team still lived up to some predictions but Italy, even with no existing Olympic medal, beat the previous victors. There wasn’t much faith for the US team against Brazil. Brazil has always been a worthy competition and both teams anticipated winning the Paris Olympics. Even the US team’s coach, Karch Kiraly, had a lot of respect for Brazil. "It's kind of sad that either team has to lose a match like that," Kiraly said, "because both programs are legendary in terms of consistently high level of play in good tournaments like the Olympics and world championships,” (ESPN). Nevertheless, when the semifinal rolled around and five sets were fought, USA triumphed.  

The final game was 81 minutes of hard work, sweat and passion. Italy reigned victorious after winning three sets, achieving their first olympic gold medal and taking the USA's chance of an olympic streak. "So proud of this team and this group," Jordan Thompson said. "I really think we left absolutely everything we had out there,” (USA Today). America has come to expect a gold medal in sports, which can put extreme pressure on the athletes and coaches who are giving it their all. Although the women's US volleyball team didn’t get what they or their country had their hearts set on, they went home with a medal and pride because they played an amazing game in the highest level of competitive sports a person could be in. 

Sources: ESPN, USA Today, Scores and Stats