Parigi 2024, le Olimpiadi della rivoluzione francese

Paris 2014 Olympics

Women's volleyball flies into the finals. Sailing, Tita-Banti win tenth gold for Italy. Canoe sprint silver

The Tita-Banti pair triumphed in the Nacra 17 speciality. In the morning bronze in open water swimming for Ginevra Taddeucci. Jacobs in the final in the 4x100 relay

8 August 2024

Turkey's #99 Ebrar Karakurt is blocked by Italy's #11 Anna Danesi and Italy's #18 Paola Ogechi Egonu during the women's volleyball semi-final match between Turkey and Italy at the South Paris Arena 1 in Paris on August 8, 2024 during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)

3' min read

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, women's volleyball Italy beat Turkey 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) and flew into the final where they will meet the United States on Sunday at 1pm for the gold medal. Julio Velasco's Italian women's volleyball team, after having won their first historic semifinal, repeated themselves and advanced to the first Olympic final in Italian history with a clear 3-0 win over Turkey, the reigning European champion, but already beaten in the rounds, at the South Paris Arena 1 with a hall largely occupied by Turkish fans.

Gold in sailing

Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti won the gold medal in the Nacra 17 speciality of sailing, which took place in Marseille. After the gold medal in Tokyo 2020, the Azzurri have thus confirmed themselves as Olympic champions. With three days of competition left, this is the tenth gold for Italy in Paris 2024.

Here it comes, and finally after two days of waiting and one of postponement, the gold for the Nacra 17 foil. It is the second consecutive in an Olympic Games for Ruggero Titas and Caterina Marianna Banti after the one in the waters of Enoshima, which has never happened before in Italian sailing, and the tenth for the Italian colours: the number of golds won at Tokyo 2020 is equalled.

Despite the light air at the start, at the limit of the minimum to be able to race, the Azzurri won the medal race scheduled for yesterday and postponed to today. At the start of the race Argentina second in the standings forced to repeat the start and Great Britain disqualified for false start, the only ones who could give the Azzurri any trouble were the New Zealanders. But it was gold right from the first mark, the windward mark, passed in second position behind the French boat leading from the start. A seventh place was enough, but Tita and Banti, even with prudent tactics, were in full control of their pace and finished second with just a minute to spare.

Silver then came at the Olympics from the C2 500 sprint canoe. Gabriele Casadei and Carlo Tacchini finished behind China and ahead of Spain. The Azzurri finished the A final in 1'41"08, behind China's Hao Liu and Bowen Ji and just 10" ahead of Spain's Joan Antoni Moreno and Diego Dominguez. For Italy, it is the 30th medal in this five-ring event and the 11th silver.

In the morning, Ginevra Taddeucci won the bronze medal in the 10 kilometre open water swimming event, swimming in the Seine. The race was regularly held, after the controversy of the past few days over the bathing of the Parisian river and the cancellation of the first training session.

The Italian 4x100 relay entered the final of the Olympic Games in Paris thanks to repechage. In the first semi-final, the Italians - Melluzzo, Jacobs, Desalu and Tortu - finished in fifth place (only the top three qualified directly, plus the two best times from the two semi-finals) with a time of 38''07. The second semi-final, however, was slower and so Italy nabbed qualification with the second and final repechage time. In addition to Italy, the USA, Great Britain, South Africa, China, France, Canada and Japan will be competing in the final on Friday 9 August at 7.47pm.