France sweeps Poland to win Olympics men’s volleyball gold
PARIS — France left no doubt which team was the best in the Olympics men’s volleyball.
Les Bleus made it back to back Saturday when it swept Poland 25-19, 25-20, 25-23 to win the gold medal for the second straight Olympics.
About an hour after the match, with most of the pro-French crowd of 10,000-plus still cheering in South Paris Arena 1, the French got their gold medals, Poland got its silvers, and the USA, which defeated Italy on Friday in the third-place match, got its bronze medals.
Jean Patry led France, which won three five-set matches in this tournament, with 14 kills, two blocks and an ace. Trevor Clevenot had nine kills, a block and an ace. Barthelemy Chinenyeze had eight kills and Earvin Ngapeth had six kills, a block and an ace.
The French had a tremendous home-court advantage in as good a volleyball atmosphere as could be imagined. They became the first team to repeat as Olympics champions in 36 years and just the third overall. The former USSR won in 1964 and 1968 and the USA did it in 1984 and 1988.
France went 6-0 in the tournament. It opened with a five-set victory over Serbia, swept Canada and then beat Slovenia in five to finish pool play. In the quarterfinals it beat Germany in five before sweeping Italy.
Bartocz Kurek led Poland, which advanced by getting past the USA in five sets in the semifinals, with nine kills and an ace. Wilfredo Leon had seven kills and two aces but the offensive star had five errors. Jakub Kochanowski had eight kills and a block and Norbert Huber had four kills, two blocks and an ace.
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