Olympics-Volleyball-France and Italy rise above the rest to claim memorable golds

By Rohith Nair

PARIS (Reuters) - France and Italy painted the South Paris Arena 1 blue as they won the volleyball gold medals to cap a memorable Olympics for the men's defending champions and the women's team who had never claimed a medal at the Games before.

France rode a wave of euphoria at their home Olympics and delivered the country's 15th gold in Paris in scintillating fashion with assured performances, losing just one group stage match en route to back-to-back titles.

They were long shots at the Tokyo Games three years ago but came into Paris as favourites and they did not disappoint in front of their home fans, many of whom had bought tickets to the final months ago expecting France to play for gold.

"If they weren't here, we wouldn't have reached the semi-finals," France's Antoine Brizard said when praising the fans who created a loud and lively party atmosphere at the arena.

"I always say that Tokyo was huge and somebody asked me how it could be better. I said, 'Winning at home'."

For Poland, the wait for a second gold will now slip into a fifth decade, with the ecstasy of reaching a first final since 1976 turning into agony after France beat them in straight sets.

But Poland did cross the quarter-final hurdle at long last, having fallen in the last eight at every Olympics since 2004.

"If someone offered us the silver medal before (the Games), we would all have signed in blood," Poland coach Nikola Grbic said.

"For many, many years we haven't been able to go past the quarter-finals, so just the first step of going through was amazing."

Italy's women had never been past the quarter-final stage but they won their first ever medal in the sport without losing a match in Paris.

They crushed Serbia, Turkey and the United States in the knockouts with 3-0 scorelines to underline their superiority and deny the Americans a second straight gold.

"This is a victory for the women's volleyball movement. In Italy, it is the number one women's sport," said Italy coach Julio Velasco, who took charge in November.

"We just lacked a victory of this magnitude to take that leap forward at all levels."

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Paris; Editing by Hugh Lawson)