USA’s coach Hugh McCutcheon
The tournament serves off on Saturday at Earls Court, a venue built in 1937 with 12,000 seating capacity, that hosted several competitions in 1948 when London last presented the Summer Games.
Foluke Akinradewo, Destinee Hooker and Megan Hodge, who took MVP honors during those championships at the premier women’s annual event of FIVB, are joined in Team USA by a group of elite players that includes outside-hitter Logan Tom and setter Lindsay Berg along with the soon-to-be 40 years-old Danielle Scott-Arruda, a middle blocker who’s taking part of her fifth Olympic Games.
Hugh McCutcheon, the native of New Zealand who coached the USA men’s team to a gold medal four years ago in Beijing, sounds brimming with confidence ahead of the start of the twelve-team competition.
“We want to win. Why come here to come fifth?” he said during a press conference here. “Whatever formula they used to rank us as No 1 in the world, we are a good team. We have worked hard to get our level of play.”
McCutcheon, who can join Brazilian Roberto Guimaraes as the only coaches to win Olympic gold medals at the helm of men’s and women’s teams, added: “We are at a standard where if we are good, it can be good enough to win.”
But the road to the gold medal can be full of obstacles as the always confident McCutcheon admits, especially with USA playing in the strong Pool B that includes Olympic defending champions Brazil, European monarchs Serbia, World Cup bronze medalists China, European third placed Turkey and the emerging squad of South Korea.
Pool A includes world champions Russia, world cup winners Italy, the resilient Japan and tough Dominican Republic along with African champions Algeria and hosts Great Britain.
“There are no gimmies, and I like the fact” McCutcheon said using a golf slang to mean he doesn’t anticipate any easy games. “It’s tough just to get out of this pool.”
Brazil are full of talent with big-time hitters like Sheila Castro and Paula Pequeno, the consistent Jaqueline Carvalho and a tandem of middle blockers formed by Fabiana Claudino and Thaisa Menezes among a group of proven performers led by Natalia Pereira, who has recovered from her injured knee.
“We need to control the anxiety in the first match against Turkey to have a good start”, Coach Ze Roberto said. “Then we play against United States, a team that has played very well in recent years. We know the difficulties we are facing, but we can be a good match-up against any team in the world.”
Russia’s opportunities rely on perennials sixth-time Olympian Evgenia Estes, Liubov Shashkova and towering Ekaterina Gamova alongside a new breed of players led by Tatiana Kosheleva and the captain Maria Borisenko.
Italy’s duo of Simona Gioli and Carolina Costagrande, the MVP at the 2011 World Cup, is an offensive threat while Francesca Piccinini continues to be a productive player but much of the hopes of the squadra azurra in these Olympics depend on the golden fingers of veteran setter Eleonora LoBianco.
When healthy, China’s Yimei Wang is one of the most powerful hitters in the game and she is joined by consistent players like Hui Ruoqi and Yunwen Ma. Turkey’s chances depend heavily on lefty Neslihan Darnel, Neriman Ozsoy and Eda Erdem as their main weapons.
The tournament should serve as an excellent exhibition window for scoring machines like Bethania De la Cruz of Dominican Republic, Japan’s Saori Kimura, Korea’s Kim Yeon-Koung, Serbia’s Jovana Brakocevic and also to gauge the advance of teams like Algeria and Great Britain.
Day One features the following contests: Algeria v Japan, China v Serbia, Great Britain v Russia, Italy v Dominican Republic, United States v Korea and Brazil v Turkey.
