Poland won their second gold medal in the history of the competition with the first achieved forty years ago in Mexico City in 1974
Katowice, Poland, September 21, 2014 – The dynasty is over.
Poland finished the three-period reign of Brazil in men’s volleyball with an emotional triumph achieved at their home soil in front of more than 12,000 spectators who crowded the Spodek Hall on Sunday night to cheer for the local boys.
The 18-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-22 victory gave Poland their second crown in the history of the FIVB Men’s World Championship while putting an end to the attempt of Brazil at becoming the first nation to win the title in four consecutive editions.
Poland first won the gold medal forty years ago in 1974 when the event took place in Mexico City and had to settle for the silver medal in 2006 when succumbed to Brazil in Japan.
The Brazilians were playing in their fifth final match of the quadrennial competition. Their string of success began in Argentina in 2002 and continued in 2006 and 2010 in Japan and Italy, respectively. They also lost to the Soviet Union in the gold medal encounter of 1982 in Buenos Aires.
Poland became the fourth team in the history of the world championship to be crowned at home, joining the Soviet Union (twice) and Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union won in Moscow in 1952 and 1962 while Czechoslovakia succeeded in Prague in 1966.
The victory by the home team capped a brilliant tournament that included 18 days of competition kicking off at the Warsaw National Stadium on August 30 in front of more than 62,000 loyal spectators.
In fact, more than a half million fans -563,263- watched the 103 matches, smashing the previous record in the competition. In Italy four years ago, the total was 339,324, while in Japan in 2006 it was 298,352.
The attendance at the final match was announced as 12,528 but more than 15,000 people followed the actions outside of the Spodek Hall located in the heart of the city of Katowice.
Key facts
•It was Poland’s seventh consecutive win, all of which came in at least four sets
• Poland’s only loss in the tournament was at the hands of United States 3-1
• Brazil’s two defeats in the competition were handed by Poland 3-2 and 3-1
Mateusz Mika led the final victory with 22 points, followed by the consistent Mariusz Wlazly, named the Most Valuable Player, who contributed 14 points. Michal Winiarski and Piotr Nowakoswki chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Wallace De Souza and Ricardo Lucarelli Santos finished with 18 points apiece for Brazil, while Lucas Saatkamp concluded with 15, including 8 blocks to match the tournament-high.
Wlazly, the tournament’s top scorer with 233 points, received the MVP award as well as the Best Opposite, presented by FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graca F°, while teammate Karol Klos was named the Second Best Middle Blocker.
Brazilians Lucarelli and Murillo earned the honours as Best and Second Outside Spikers while Germans Maruc Bohme and Lukas Kampa received the awards as Best Middle Blocker and Best Setter, respectively. France’s Jenia Grebennikov was the Best Libero.
The MVP received $30,000 in prize money while each of the members of the Dream Team were awarded $10,000 each.
“The hardest part of my coaching debut was imagining success,” said Stephane Antiga who retired after the 2014 season to accept the position at the helm of the Polish team.
“We wanted to play this match as it was any other match,” he added. “The guys showed a lot of character and spirit and they all played as a team.”
Results - September 31, 2014
Earlier on Sunday, Germany captured the bronze medal with a straight-set (25-21, 26-24, 25-23) victory over France.
It was the first medal for unified Germany in the history of the competition since they had won the gold medal as East Germany in 1970 in Bulgaria. Germany had finished in eighth position in the previous world championship held in 2010 in Italy.
On the other hand, France were looking to equal the bronze medal they attained in 2006 when the event took place in Japan. The fourth place is their best finish putting aside the competition of eight years ago.
Key points
•Germany have won three and lost two against France at the world championships
•France lost their last two matches to finish the event with nine victories
•Germany became the 11th team with multiple medals at the world championships
Gyorgy Grozer had 19 points as the best scorer for Germany, followed by Denys Kaliberda and Sebastian Schwarz who each contributed 12 points. Antonin Rouzier and Earvin Ngapeth finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively, in the losing cause.
“We played fantastic game today and defended more than France which is something,” Germany’s coach Vital Heynen said.
Germany’s captain Jochen Schops added: “We are extremely happy, even some tears dropped, everybody saw how we enjoyed this victory.”
FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014 Final Ranking
1) Poland
2) Brazil
3) Germany
4) France
5) Russia
6) Iran
7) Canada
7) USA
9) Finland
9) Serbia
11) Argentina
11) Cuba
13) Bulgaria
13) Italy
15) Australia
15) China
17) Belgium
17) Korea
17) Mexico
17) Venezuela
21) Cameroon
21) Egypt
21) Puerto Rico
21) Tunisia
FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014 Dream Team
Best Outside Spiker – Lucarelli (BRA)
Second Best Outside Spiker – Murilo (BRA)
Best Middle Blocker - Marcus Bohme (GER)
Second best MB – Karol Klos (POL)
Best Libero - Jenia Grebennikov (FRA)
Best Setter – Lukas Kampa (GER)
Best Opposite – Mariusz Wlazly (POL)
Most Valuable Player – Mariusz Wlazly (POL)
Best performances
Top scorer by day
24- Taylor Sander of United States v Belgium on 31-8-14
31- Zhi Yuan of China v Egypt on 1-9-14
27- Antonin Rouzier of France v Italy on 2-9-14
30- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-14
20- Nikola Kovacevic of Serbia v Australia on 4-9-14
20- Jiri Kovar of Italy v Belgium on 4-9-14
20- Daniel Vargas of Mexico v Russia on 5-9-14
27- Maurice Torres of Puerto Rico v Italy on 6-9-14
25- Thomas Edgar of Australia v Venezuela on 7-9-14
23- Taylor Sander of United States v Poland on 10-9-14
25- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Italy on 11-9-14
28- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Iran on 13-9-14
30- Amir Ghafour of Iran v Serbia on 14-9-14
31- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Brazil on 16-9-14
23- Gyorgy Grozer of Germany v Iran on 17-9-14
28- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Russia on 18-9-14
22- Ricardo Lucarelli Santos of Brazil v France on 20-9-14
22- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Germany on 20-9-14
22- Mateusz Mika of Poland v Brazil on 21-9-14
Top scoring performances
31- Zhi Yuan of China v Egypt on 1-9-14
31- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Brazil on 16-9-14
30- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-14
30- Amir Ghafour of Iran v Serbia on 14-9-14
28- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Iran on 13-9-14
28- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Russia on 18-9-14
27- Antonin Rouzier of France v Italy on 2-9-14
27- Maurice Torres of Puerto Rico v Italy on 6-9-14
Top blocking performances
8- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Italy on 31-8-14
8- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Puerto Rico on 7-9-14
8- Lucas Saatkamp of Brazil v Poland on 21-9-14
7- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v France on 4-9-14
7- Felix Chapman of Cuba v Korea on 5-9-14
7- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Argentina on 11-9-14
7- Karol Klos of Poland v Brazil on 16-9-14
Top serving performances
8- Gyorgy Grozer of Germany v Bulgaria on 11-9-14
6- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-14
6- Ricardo Lucarelli Santos of Brazil v Finland on 5-9-14
6- Kervin Piñerua of Venezuela v Australia on 7-9-14
6- Dimitriy Muserskiy of Russia v Bulgaria on 7-9-14
6- Facundo Conte of Argentina v Italy on 13-9-14
Top team blocking performances
18- Bulgaria v Egypt on 6-9-14
16- Korea v Tunisia on 1-9-14
16- Italy v Belgium on 4-9-14
16- Iran v Belgium on 6-9-14
16- Iran v Puerto Rico on 7-9-14
Top team serving performances
17- Russia v Bulgaria on 7-9-14
12- Germany v Bulgaria on 11-9-14
11- Venezuela v Cameroon on 2-9-14
11- Brazil v China on 11-9-14
11- Argentina v Italy on 13-9-14
Highest scoring sets
33-31 China v Egypt (4th Set) on 1-9-14
33-31 Cameroon v Venezuela (3rd Set) on 2-9-14
32-30 Australia v France (3rd Set) on 11-9-14
31-29 United States v Serbia (2nd Set) on 11-9-14
30-28 Argentina v Italy (3rd Set) on 13-9-14
30-28 Cuba v Bulgaria (3rd Set) on 13-9-14
Highest scoring matches
217- China d Finland 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 16-14) on 13-9-14
217- Argentina d United States 3-2 (19-25, 28-26, 25-20, 23-25, 15-11) on 14-9-14
216- Finland d Cuba 3-2 (18-25, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-12) on 1-9-14
216- Bulgaria d Egypt 3-2 (25-22, 26-24, 23-25, 20-25, 15-11) on 6-9-14
214- Australia d Venezuela 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-9) on 7-9-14
213- Brazil d France 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12) on 20-9-14