Our Blog - Paris Olympics - Women's Volleyball

We didn't know which countries we would get when we bought the tickets and ended up with Brazil vs Japan. I'm not exactly sure if they knew who would be at the game when people bought their tickets, they bought them later, or traded ... because there definitely were LOTS of Brazilian fans in the stands. Perhaps the brackets were already out there when we bought the tickets and I just didn't look close enough. But it was a good match, although short because the Japanese team seemed out matched and overpowered. For Brazil, Thaisa Daher de Menezes (the one with the with leg brace) at 6'5", Diana Duarte Alecrim at 6'4", and Ana Cristina Menezes Oliveira de Souza at 6'4" seemed to be the powerhouses (and the tallest ones). Looking at the Japanese team, they have 3 players at 6' and some are around my height ... one at 5'2", one at 5'4", and another at 5'5" (I am 5'4"). Our seats weren't too bad although I would have preferred to NOT have a Brazilian fan banging on a cow bell all night!

These are the introductions of the teams ... first Brazil and then Japan. (you can skip viewing these if you aren't interested). I found it a little funny that, in general, they announced just the first names of the Brazilian players (except for one who is German-Brazilian) but they announced both first-and-last for the Japanese players.

A few action shots (I actually didn't do too bad with my little phone camera)

A little bit of trivia ... I mentioned the tallest player was Thaisa Daher de Menezes ... She was on the Olympic gold-medal teams in 2008 and 2012 and is often often singled out as one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time. She initially was a swimmer but changed to volleyball due to her brother playing ... a good move for her! She had a serious knee injury in 2017 and it seems that the knee brace is now a permanent part of her uniform. You can see her in action in the middle, spiking the ball (which then gets returned).

Look at how high those ladies get over the net!

Watching them, and comparing them a little to our local men's professional volleyball team, the points seem to go longer with more rally's and the athletes being able to get to the balls that are spiked a bit more. A few times, the fans will think the point is over and scream, but no, one of the players has dove down to get the ball and the point can continue!

Getting down now to the last few points ... Brazil had taken the first 2 games 25-20 and 25-17, and were leading 22-16 in the 3rd. It wasn't looking good for a Japanese comeback at this point.

And the final point, the cow bell, and the crowd.