ranking based on team players

    the big three:


    italy, russia, and usa


    italy represents the most consistent game play from last year, with the powerful player of aguero and the two amazing blockers italy has. barazza and gioli are the best blocking pair last year. with flawless defense, italy has more chances to fight back for each score


    russia was the champion of 2006. with only 2 hitters, russia was able to get a silver medal in the last OG. last year, gamova just recovered from injuries but now all the powerful players are back, assisted by the all round player artamonova for reception and defense, to me, russia is the only one that could rival italy for hegemony


    usa, needless to say, with the amazing Jenny, usa team is the third team that could beat brazil in 3 years. russia in 2006 led the trend, followed by italy and usa respectively. so, usa is ranked higher than brazil. now with logan tom back and haneef more powerful than ever, usa is on the way to collect her medal. and usa has just found new talents for the OG as well


    the next in the rank is brazil


    brazil has just recruited mari and waleskhina in the team, this brazillian team is the best brazil has ever had cos all the players are experienced but also very young. when blockers fail, waleskhina is there to play really fast and receive for the team, when brazil needs someone to hit the ball hard when reception is no good, there is Mari. and this is Brazil



    edit by Armel: Topic moved to "Female Players & Teams" section

    I like your analyse, colossus!!!


    -Italy has a good team with stable reception, great block-defence and smart setting. With the great star Aguero completing the team. Italy is more of a defensive team, based on block-defence correlation and Aguero as first attacker.


    -Russia has a good team too and it's a big offensive team with the powerful attacks and serves of Gamova, Sokolova, Godina and Artamonova. The flaws last year were poor reception and defence, but with Sokolova and Artamonova both on court, it will be all another story on back court.


    Russia has to jump serve as they did in 2006 to destroy Italian reception. Italy has to try to defend the undefendable and than to be patient to score the points.


    -I think China will be a surprise. RuiRui, Feng, Hao, Zhou Suhong, Yan Liu are still a fearsome team and remember that they are playing at home!!! With their smart play, they are still able to win, in my opinion.

    I agree with both of you....


    And have to say I really want to see how China is going to make it...I mean...I don't like them very much...but they are always very strong for sure....and playing at home..I can't wait to see....

    i kinda agree when both of you say team china is strong,
    but given the fact that ruirui just returned and a few weeks ago, she sprained her ankle.
    though she is now like 80% of what she did in 2003, she still need some time
    to adapt to the international volley game play, like she never plays with the current russian and italian team


    also, to harness the attacks by ruirui, china have got to have excellent reception,
    but reception is not really that stable,
    thats why i think china have to work realy hard so tht china can play against those 4 teams

    I think the four teams that would really compete for the olympic medals are China, Russia, Italy, and Brazil.


    China- They are going to play in their homeland and hence, a tremendous amount of support would be available to them. Zhao and Feng are also back and even if they get injured again, they have back-ups (Wei, Ma, and Xu) who could battle with the veterans of other teams (this has been proven based on their performance in the WGP '07. This team also has creative plays that are very unpredictable to other teams. I think the main advantage of this team in the Olympics is its reception, plays, sets, and most importantly, the team's TEAMWORK.


    Russia- With the presence of Gamova, Godina, Sokolova, and Artamonova
    in the team, Russia would be very very very strong in the Olympics. We
    also have to consider the fact that the team did not play its past
    games seriously but for sure, the team would take the Olympics very
    seriously. With that, the full potential of the team would be unleashed
    and that is a very scary thing to face especially if you come from a
    competing team in the Olympics. In 2004, Gamova and Sokolova managed to
    get a silver medal. What more if Godina and Artamonova join the squad
    this year?


    Italy- This team has Aguero and that fact changed everything about the team in the best way. Aside from Aguero, the middle blockers of Italy has proven themselves very dangerous to the other teams. As long as the team continues to do what it has been doing for the past year, the team has a very big chance of winning a medal.


    Brazil- This team has its consistency as its main weapon for the Olympic Games. Brazil also has creative plays and the technique that the team applies in its games are incomparable. As long as Brazil sticks to its main assets, the team has a chance in winning a medal.

    considering how all the teams are preparing for the OG, it could be anybody's game. For what it's worth, the Russians will be a blast. Russians have good outside hitters, the two loopholes that i see on the team is their lack of a good setter and the poor reception. I agree from the above post that with Artamonova making a comeback, the team may be able to improve their reception, say 80%. From the past, the only good setter that Russia had was Vassilevskaia and Sheshenina. The two Akulova's are a bit shaky.


    With China, yes, playing in their hometown gives them an extra edge, not to mention the fact that they have long been training and prepping up for this OG. With Feng Kun, arguably the best setter in the world, and Zhao Ruirui making a comeback, it may prove lethal to other teams especially Russians and the Brazilians who find it hard to play against the Chinese because of their unpredictability and great execution.


    From my odds, I think that it is more likely to be Russia, Italy and China who will be able to reach the finals. No offense to the Cubans but unless they can make Mireya Luis and Regla Torres back to the NT, i don't see them reaching the finals. The team is so unstable, has poor reception and bad teamwork. But Rosir Calderon is great.


    Like my previous posts, since this is the Olympics that we're talking about, what we can expect is a lot of surprises. Oh yeah!

    Quote from HungryNecro

    I think the four teams that would really compete for the olympic medals are China, Russia, Italy, and Brazil.

    I would add USA, Serbia and Poland. If they prepare to the Olympics well enough, they will be able to get a medal. Of course, first Poland and Serbia need to qualify, but it shouldn't be so difficult.

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

    For me China, Italy, Russia and Brazil are the candidates to winning a medal in the OG. USA, Serbia, Poland and Cuba have chances too, but not as big as these other teams.


    For me China will be one of the strongest teams in the OG. They'll their main players back and they will play before their fans and this fact can make a difference. Kun Feng is amazing and she has recharded her batteries last year. The Chinese Team has potential to beat any team they face.


    The Italian team is really strong but for me, what makes the Italian team so good is Lo Bianco, Aguero and the defensive system of the team. Of course the other players are good, but comparing player to player, the other teams also have players as good as the Italians in other positions.


    The US Team has good players too and when it comes to tactics, they stand out. Hanneef, Logan Tom and Metcalf are the best players of the team in my opinion.


    As regards the Russian Team, they are very strong physically their attacks are almost unstoppable and their blocks are difficult to overcome. Their serves cause trouble to any reception, so it will be hard to beat them. Anyway, their game is rather predictable and their plays are rather slow and predictable. This is the weakness the Russian's team opponents have to exploit in order to cope with the difficult task of beating them.


    Brazil's team bench players are as good as the starting-six players, no other team in the world is like that and if Brazil could use all its twelve players wisely, it will be difficult to beat the brazilian girls. If the team's reception work and if our players stop drawing blanks in the middle of the matches, we'll have a chance of winning the Olympic Games. A psychologist was hired to help Brazil's team to prepare for the Olympic Games. I hope our player could be more effective in high-balls attacking, if that happens, Brazil's team will be even stronger.


    I personally think that Brazil, Italy and Russia will be in the semifinals. They will be in the death group and that will help them to be at the best of their forms in the semifinals.