Italy ecstatically celebrates their first medal in volleyball—a triumphant gold. GETTY IMAGES

Italy won the women’s volleyball title Sunday at the South Paris Arena, beating the USA 3-0. The top-ranked team claimed its first Olympic medal in the sport with a dominant display of technical skill against the six-time Olympic medallists USA. 

Italy has dropped just one set in five matches, beating the Dominican Republic 3-1 in the Olympic opener.

The Italians made their move early, going up 5-1 in the first set to force a timeout by Team USA. USA worked their way up after the timeout but still trailed, letting the Italians take the first set 25-18 with Paola Egonu terminating.



Four-time Olympian Jordan Larson, who came out of retirement to play in Paris, picked up her first kill in the second set to tie the Americans. It didn’t seem enough to get them the lead and called another timeout, after which Italy unsuccessfully challenged a touch on the block, a huge sigh of relief for the USA but they lost the second match anyway.

The third set didn’t go well for the Americans either, unable to put up a decent block against Italy’s offence. Myriam Sylla and Alessia Orro showed top performances to extend Italy’s lead. An ace from Ekaterina Antropova further buried the Americans’ hopes at the gold.



Brazil won the bronze, winning against Türkiye on Saturday 3-1. Gabriela Guimaraes led Brazil with a game-high 28 points, while Thaisa de Menezes, a twice-Olympic champion who also came out of retirement last year, had 17 with seven blocks.

"Making her a three-time Olympic champion was a big motivation for us," Brazil's Ana Da Silva said. "Before this match, I told her that since she didn't have a bronze medal, that was the one we were going to get her."