Thriller victory at the Olympic opening “Can beat anyone”: Volleyball players in medal mood
Germany’s volleyball players celebrate an important victory at the start of the Olympics. Photo
© Alessandra Tarantino/AP/dpa
Match point fended off, fought back and the quarter finals in sight. Germany’s volleyball players have had a furious start to the Olympic Games. Now the three-time Olympic champion is waiting.
As the volleyball hall lit up in black, red and gold, Germany’s medal hunters danced exuberantly in a circle. With an impressive energetic performance, the selection of national coach Michal Winiarski celebrated a successful return to the Olympic stage and defeated world number two Japan in a nerve-racking thriller with 3:2 (25:17, 23:25, 20:25, 30:28, 15:12).
In the fourth set, the team around exceptional player Georg Grozer even had to fend off a match point. “It was a great team performance. We can beat anyone like this. I think we can do anything,” said Grozer, who was the best DVV player with 24 points. The veteran and his teammates had set a medal as their goal at these summer games.
The door to the quarter-finals is wide open after the successful revenge for the defeat in June. After problems in preparation, the Germans found exactly the same nerves of steel in crunch time that had brought them Olympic qualification last year. “I tried to communicate more with the coaching team during the difficult phases. We older players in particular have to exude a lot of self-confidence,” reported captain Lukas Kampa.
Wide awake at 9:00 a.m.
Other opponents in the preliminary round are the three-time Olympic champions from the USA on Tuesday (1:00 p.m.) and Argentina on Friday (9:00 a.m.). The group winners and runners-up will definitely qualify for the quarter-finals, and the two best third-placed teams will also advance. The DVV team is taking part in the Olympics for the first time since 2012; the only German medal to date was in 1972 when the GDR team came second.
In the sold-out cauldron in the south of Paris with 10,600 people, the German volleyball players were wide awake after kick-off at 9 a.m. – even though the alarm clock had already rung at 5.20 a.m. “I was surprised myself. I practiced giving my maximum every morning because I knew this moment would come,” said Grozer. The German selection dominated the first set, partly thanks to the 39-year-old’s aces.
When the DVV team then missed opportunities to win the set, the momentum shifted to the Japanese side. Germany was now much less effective and only managed to improve again in the fourth set. In the tiebreak, Winiarski’s team had stronger nerves than their rivals. “We can’t pop the corks yet. The focus is now on the USA, to do just as good a job or maybe a better one,” said outside attacker Christian Fromm, curbing the slight euphoria.
dpa
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