ACOG - News - IBM

(31 July 1996; Day 12)

Yugoslovia Making Most of Second Olympic Men's Volleyball Appearance

It's a phone call that they've been waiting to receive for a long time. Just 10 minutes after Yugoslovia had dispatched of Brazil in the men's volleyball quarterfinals, Yugoslovia President Zoran LILIC called to offer his congratulations. That phone call may, more than anything, represent the significance of the victory in a country void of volleyball tradition.

Considering the Olympic tournament marks only the country's second international competition with the current team and no player on the team had any prior Olympic Games experience, Yugoslovia entered the Games as not much more than an afterthought in terms of the medal race.. All that changed on Wednesday in the Omni Coliseum.

Yugoslovia recorded its most significant volleyball victory in the history of the country with a 15-6, 15-5, 8-15, 14-16, 15-10 win over defending Olympic champion Brazil. Yugoslovia jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but the powerful Brazilians rallied to force a fifth set. In the fifth set, Yugoslovia dug deep to advance to the semifinals where it is guaranteed to be playing for a medal.

"This is a historic match for us," said Yugoslovian setter Nikola GRBIC. "This is only our second time in the Olympics and to receive placement in the top four teams is important. We had to give very much to win."

In addition to a lack of volleyball tradition, politics also came into play. Yugoslovia was under a political border embargo for four years, which meant that it was not able to compete outside of the country, nor was any team able to come into the country and play. During the four-year period, all the Yugoslovians could do was practice. That practice paid off on Wednesday.

"I think this match showed we're a good team," said attacker Vladimir BATEZ. "This was a realistic result. We wished a little more today for this victory than Brazil."

Yugoslovia began the match like they would make short work of the Brazilians. Using a combination of outstanding serving and blocking, Yugoslovia rolled to victories in the first two sets by 15-6 and 15-5 scores. Brazil then showed why it is the defending Olympic Games champion as it rallied to post a 15-8 victory in the third set and fought off four match points in the fourth set to eventually win 16-14. Yugoslovia then returned to its strong serving and blocking game to walk away with the fifth set and the match.

Now that Yugoslovia has knocked off one world power, another is likely waiting in two-time world champion Italy. Italy must first get past Argentina, but is a heavy favorite to do so. But the Yugoslovians have gained a great deal of confidence with the victory over Brazil.

"Every one of our players believes in himself," said GRBIC. "We believe in ourselves and we have nothing to lose. We lost a lot in the four years of the blockade, but now I think our moment is coming."

For Brazil, it was a crushing defeat for a team that, along with Italy, is considered the top men's volleyball program in the world today.

"This is an immense moment of sadness for us," said Brazilian hitter Giovane GAVIO. "We trained so long and so hard for this moment and then we died on the beach, so to speak."

Brazilian head coach Jose GUIMARAES was left without an answer for the loss, but it may have been best summed up by Yugoslovian head coach Zoran GAJIC.

"Maybe they didn't believe we were that strong a team," he said.

With two more victories, the entire world will know that Yugoslovia is indeed that strong.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Roger McAfee.


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More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.