Brazil celebrate a memorable victory at the Maracanãzinho
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 22, 2016 - Brazil defeated Italy to claim gold in the men's volleyball tournament on Sunday in a fittingly spectacular finale to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The competition hosts celebrated late into the night as the Closing Ceremony at the Maracana looked ahead to the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
For the
New York Times, Brazil's victory against Italy, which came after the host country's victory in the football tournament, signed an "emphatic back-to-back triumph for the host country, with victory coming in the two sports it cares most about as the Olympics drew to a close."
For
NBC, the Brazilians had finally won gold in front of their home crowd after losing Olympic finals at London 2012 (against Russia) and at Beijing 2008 (against the United States).
The
BBC pictured Brazilian footballer Neymar enjoying the action at the Maracanãzinho.
Italy, on the other hand, were licking their wounds after losing to Brazil for a second time after Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo conceded defeat to Brazilians Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt in the final of the men's beach volleyball competition on Thursday.
Ivan Zaytsev told
La Gazzetta dello Sport he could see the positives: "No doubt we were here for a different medal, but we played a great tournament."
And for Nicolai and Lupo, silver definitely sparkles.
Globo.com carried a story saying Brazil great Gilberto Amauri de Godoy Filho (Giba) thought Wallace Souza had done enough to earn the MVP award - a prize which was finally given to his teammate Sergio Santos.
... while
L'Equipe featured a picture of the Brazilian victory as one of the standout moments of the last day of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The celebratory mood in Brazil was matched in China where coach Lang Ping's team's victory in the women's volleyball final on Saturday made
CCTV's headlines.
And, of course, the mood is still one of celebration in Germany after Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst's memorable victory in the women's beach volleyball final on Copacabana Beach on Wednesday evening.
According to the
Frankfurter Allgemeine, Brazilian idol Pele had hoped his country would prevail in Brazil-Germany encounters in the football and beach volleyball finals. In beach volleyball at least, Ludwig and Walkenhorst claimed the title for the European country.
As
USA Today said, there was a true party atmosphere at the stadium on Copacabana Beach, and with Brazilian passion lighting up the Maracanãzinho venue, we can't wait for more of the same when the Games open in Tokyo in 2020.
And as
Voice of America reported, the FIVB will continue to focus on making volleyball the number one family sport entertainment in the world.
