2008 Beijing Olympic Volleyball Tournament

Argh, we are starting against hosts!

And we have theoreticly easier opponents first and than real fight begins (although Germans also won't be easy to beat).

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U.S. Men's Olympic Team Roster (pending approval)

No. Name (Pos., Height, Age., Hometown, College)
1 Lloy Ball (S, 6-8, 36, Woodburn, Ind., IPFW)
2 Sean Rooney (OH, 6-9, 25, Wheaton, Ill., Pepperdine)
4 David Lee (MB, 6-8, 26, Alpine, Calif., Long Beach State)
5 Rich Lambourne (L, 6-3, 33, Tustin, Calif., BYU)
8 Reid Priddy (OH, 6-5, 30, Richmond, Va., Loyola Marymount)
9 Ryan Millar (MB, 6-8, 30, Palmdale, Calif., BYU)
10 Riley Salmon (OH, 6-6, 32, League City, Texas, Pierce College)
12 C Tom Hoff (MB, 6-8, 35, Park Ridge, Ill., Long Beach State)
13 Clay Stanley (OPP, 6-9, 30, Honolulu, Hawai'i, Hawai'i)
14 Kevin Hansen (S, 6-5, 26, Newport Beach, Calif., Stanford)
15 Gabe Gardner (OPP, 6-9, 32, San Clemente, Calif., Stanford)
18 Scott Touzinsky (OH, 6-6, 26, St. Louis, Mo., Long Beach State)

Staff
Head Coach: Hugh McCutcheon
Team Leader: Rob Browning
First Assistant Coach: Ron Larsen
Second Assistant Coach: John Speraw
Consultant Coach: Marv Dunphy
Technical Consultant: Jamie Morrison
Scout: Carl McGown
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock

Bulgarian NT for the OG

S: Andrey Zhekov, Ivan Tasev

OPP: Vladimir Nikolov, Boyan Yordanov

MB: Evgeni Ivanov, Hristo Tsvetanov, Krasimir Gaydarski

OH: Plamen Konstantinov (C), Matey Kaziyski, Todor Aleksiev, Kostadin Stoykov ( )

L: Teodor Salparov

Head coach: Martin Stoev

I think for the moment this olympic bulgarian squad is most suitable.

Quote from volley super fan

Bulgarian NT for the OG

S: Andrey Zhekov, Ivan Tasev

OPP: Vladimir Nikolov, Boyan Yordanov

MB: Evgeni Ivanov, Hristo Tsvetanov, Krasimir Gaydarski

OH: Plamen Konstantinov (C), Matey Kaziyski, Todor Aleksiev, Kostadin Stoykov ( )

L: Teodor Salparov

Head coach: Martin Stoev

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Rather no surprises. Bulgaria has had quite stabile squad for some years. As well as Poland.

Who is Ivan Tasev?

Quote from andrea

Who is Ivan Tasev?

Ivan Tasev is the setter of Bulgarian champion this year - CSKA. But he is quite old - 38 years but in almost every game he replaced Ivan Zarev and was leading the team to victory. He has a lot of experience and for me it is the perfect choice to replace Zhekov during the long tournament.

Volley super fan, I think Stoykov is the better choice than Ananiev for example. He is more experienced and he's much more stable at receiving and in blocking. Ananiev is also not in shape because of teh injury.. the future is bright for him, I am sure he will participate in London 2012.

Just a little correction - Ivan Tasev is 41 years old

If you ask me right now both Ananiev and Stoykov are not for the team ( Ananiev because is not in good shape and about Stoykov i have told my oppinion a long time ago - if i was the head coach this guy never will appear in the BG NT), so no matter who of them exactly is in Beijing it won't be a big use for the squad i think .

* oh, and i also think that Ivan Tasev is even 41, not 38. I just have such a memory, cause i think i read it somewhere.

Yeah, my mistake, he's 42.... I don't see now a player at OH position to go at the Olympics out of this 4 OH which Stoev had chosen - Ananiev, Sokolov and Penev have more to prove in the NT, we will see in the future.

And I also think that next year at this post more players should have chance to play - Ivan Kolev, Boyko Bonev (CSKA), Vladi Aleksandrov, Miro Gradinarov (Cherno More Bask) and of course Penev, Ananiev and Sokolov.

You are right, I also don't see but i just hope Stoykov not to play in the matches. The other three OH are much better than him in my opinion and I think they will do their job

42 years old setter. Interesting.

Poland
S:
Paweł Zagumny,
Paweł Woicki

MB:
Daniel Pliński,
Łukasz Kadziewicz,
Marcin Możdżonek

O:
Piotr Gruszka,
Mariusz Wlazły

OH:
Sebastian Świderski,
Marcin Wika,
Krzysztof Gierczyński,
Michał Winiarski

L:
Krzysztof Ignaczak

Im a little bit supprised because of Możdżonek

I think, Możdżonek will be the worst our player during olimpic games. He played only one good match in World League.

Hm, I also think that his including in the team for the OG is a liitle bit strange but obviously Lozano doesn't think as me.

That was quite a shock for me. Mozdzonek over Grzyb -or Nowakowski. I have to point out though that he has worked on his serve a lot (which was commonly considered his weakness).

Możdżonek is a good player, but it is true, that he didn't play much last timeand it is a surprise, thta Lozano has chosen him. However Grzyb is a strange guy - in my opinion to less agressive near above the net and with weak serve. Nowakowski shuold be very useful in the future, but he has been having health problems lately. I expect Możdżonek will be good substitute during OG.
Too bad, that any team can't have two liberos. Gacek is OK, but only one could have been chosen. Our coach count on Gierczyński not on Bąkiewicz. Well, Gierczyński is better in attack, but Bąkiewicz recieves better, so if Ignaczak had some injury, it would be difficult to replace him.
Generally I like this roster, and only hope that our players will play as good as they can.