Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016 - The Olympic rookies from Argentina are the first Rio 2016 challenge for the European standout Russia. The two teams will close the first competition day in Pool A of the women’s volleyball tournament at the Games.
Both sides earned their tickets to the Rio 2016 Olympics through their respective continental Olympic qualification tournaments in January of this year. Russia won the CEV event in Ankara, Turkey, while Argentina finished first at the CSV tournament at home, in Bariloche.
For the Argentinean women the participation in Rio 2016 is already a historic success since they have never played at the Olympic Games before.
On the other hand, as the successor of the Soviet Union and the CIS, Russia are the most experienced country in women’s Olympic volleyball. The only tournament they have missed so far is the one at Los Angeles 1994.
The Russian ladies are also the most decorated team in Olympic history with gold medals from Mexico City 1968, Munich 1972, Moscow 1980 and Seoul 1988 and silver medals from Tokyo 1964, Montreal 1976, Barcelona 1992, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. However, at the last two editions, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, the Russians registered their worst ever finish – fifth on both occasions.
Most recently, Russia and Argentina met each other at the FIVB Volleyball World Cup 2015. On August 26, 2015, in Tokyo, the European squad mastered a 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-16) victory over their South American opponents.