Olympic gold, the Nations League trophy, and now the world title. Italy’s phenomenal new generation of volleyball stars has returned and has done everything except lose over a spectacular 12-month period.
Since a magical afternoon in Paris on August 11th, which saw Italian volleyball shatter its Olympic taboo, the team coached by Julio Velasco has never stopped winning. Their 3-0 final victory over the USA at the Games began a record-breaking, 36-match unbeaten streak that has cemented Danesi and her teammates as the planet’s most dominant team.
After the Olympics, the squad repeated its success through the long Nations League campaign, culminating in a 3-1 win over Brazil in the final in Lodz, Poland, on July 27th. Another trophy was lifted, and the best was yet to come.
In Thailand, the Olympic champions built their latest masterpiece. They dethroned the previously unbeaten (in World Championships) Brazilians in a nerve-shredding semi-final marathon won in a tie-break. In the final, they faced a formidable Turkey, led by Italian coach Daniele Santarelli and the powerful attacks of Melissa Vargas. Another tie-break victory, however, crowned Italy world champions for the first time in 23 years, since Marco Bonitta’s team won in Berlin in 2002.
If that 2002 title was historic, this one, won in Bangkok, is legendary. It completes a year of total dominance where the team left nothing for its opponents, sweeping through the World Championship by defeating Slovakia, Cuba, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Brazil, and finally Turkey.
This generation of phenoms—Paola Egonu, Myriam Sylla, tournament MVP Alessia Orro, Anna Danesi, and libero Monica De Gennaro, among others—has been magically orchestrated by Velasco. For the Argentine technician, this is a third world title, after the two he won with the Italian men’s team in the 1990s. He has now guided the women, giving this generation the code to invincibility.