France celebrates men's volleyball gold, Brazil women win bronze

PARIS -- France beat world No. 1-ranked Poland 3-0 to win the Olympic men's volleyball gold medal on Saturday, defending its title from the Tokyo Games but this time on home soil inside a rocking South Paris Arena 1.

France is only the third country to win back-to-back golds in men's volleyball after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

The U.S. beat Italy in straight sets on Friday to take the bronze medal.

Jean Patry led the way for the hosts with 17 points and Trevor Clevenot had 11 while Antoine Brizard chipped in with crucial blocks at the net as France claimed a 15th gold medal in the Paris Games with a 25-19, 25-20, 25-23 victory.

"It's incredible. Right from the start we've been pushed by the fans. The crowd was crazy," Clevenot said.

"Everyone did well to beat a team like Poland. We will party tonight. We won't finish early."

Poland, back in the final after 48 years, was left to rue a missed opportunity to claim its second gold.

Poland's biggest star, Wilfredo Leon, had 94 points in Paris but had a quiet game by his standards with just nine points.

The teams got off to a sizzling start, with every spike and block drawing massive roars from a full house.

Poland fell behind in the opening set with several service errors before France wrapped it up when Patry made an excellent dig to set himself up for a devastating kill.

In the third set, Poland saved four match points but only delayed the inevitable when Leon's serve went long to spark wild celebrations on the floor and in the stands.

Leon was disappointed with the silver but took pride in standing on the podium.

"We're happy, for a really long time we didn't reach the podium at the Olympics," he said. "So I should be proud of the team."

In the women's draw, Brazil denied Turkey a first Olympic medal in women's volleyball with a 3-1 win.

The 25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 25-15 victory gave Brazil, runners-up at the Tokyo Games, their third bronze in Olympic women's volleyball.

Gabriela Guimaraes led the way for Brazil with a game-high 28 points, while Thaisa de Menezes -- a twice-Olympic champion who came out of retirement last year -- had 17 with seven blocks.

Just as in the previous games in Paris, Turkey's attack flowed through tournament top scorer Melissa Vargas, who scored 26 points in the match, but that also underlined the squad's lack of balance.

Turkey battled to a set point in the second set but Brazil fought back and took a 2-0 lead.

The third set was tied at 15-15 before Turkey raised its game, racing into the lead and taking the set.

But Brazil was in no mood to hang around in the fourth as Guimaraes and De Menezes helped to seal the win, with the latter fittingly applying the final touch to make a block on match point to clinch the bronze.

The United States and Italy will meet Sunday in the women's gold-medal match.

--Reuters, Special to Field Level Media