The gold curse continues for Italian volleyball, which nonetheless wins the third silver medal in its Olympic history: Zaytsev and his companions, after a superlative tournament, have to surrender to Brazil in the final for the gold. It is the third final lost after Atlanta '96 against the Netherlands and Athens 2004 again against Brazil. However, that of volleyball is the 12th silver medal of the blue expedition in Rio 2016, and the 28th overall, that is the last, the one that makes us close with an overall balance identical to Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Even the gold medals, 8, are the same as the last two editions.
Even the bronzes in the end are 8, with the last one also arriving on the last day of competition thanks to the Cuban-born athlete Frank Chamizo in the free fight. In addition to all these medals, which improved CONI's forecasts (the president Giovanni Malagò had predicted 25), the beauty of ten fourth places must be "added", a non-trivial haul of podiums missed by a hair's breadth, the last of which it also arrived on Sunday with the rhythmic gymnastics girls.
