Gabriella in Berlin
This is a letter which she has sent to us:
It was an amazing experience! First of all I have to say that long before the European Championship began I knew I would root for Italy and Germany, hoping that both teams would reach the final round of the tournament. When Italy was defeated by Serbia all my support went to Germany, so you can imagine how happy I was when they won against Croatia 🙂 As soon as I found out I had won the tickets for the finals I decided to go to the semifinals as well, since I knew I would already be in Berlin the day before, and it turned out to be a very good decision.
The first semifinal was surprisingly short: I knew that both Russia and Serbia were very strong so I expected a battle, perhaps a tie break, not a 3-0. However it was a good match, even though I must admit it took me a few minutes to focus on what was happening on the court without getting distracted by the fact that I was finally there, actually watching all these brilliant players fight for a place on the podium (I may have freaked out a little after seeing Jovana Brakocevic enter the court. Bear with me, I’m not used to this 🙂 ). I was also impressed by the huge crowd at Max Schmeling Halle, just warming up for the real battle of the day, between the home team and one of the most underrated teams of this tournament. Germany and Belgium knew each other very well after last European League, and it showed in this long, difficult, spectacular match (probably the one I enjoyed the most in the whole weekend). I guess after the first two sets some people started thinking it would end with another 3-0, and it was just great to watch captain Margareta Kozuch push her team back in the game and then to victory, along with more than 7000 supporters who never stopped cheering for them. The atmosphere in the Hall was overwhelming, and it was “just” a semifinal!
The next day I found myself rooting for Belgium in the 3rd place final, mostly because after such an impressive performance against Germany I absolutely wanted them to get the bronze medal, and I soon discovered many people in the Hall (even fuller than the day before) felt the same. Of course it doesn’t work like that, Belgium had to prove their worth on the court and fight through 5 sets for that medal, and they succeeded in the end! I was a bit shocked when I realized the 2011 champions wouldn’t even get on the podium this year, but Belgians really deserved their third place.
The gold medal match was really strange, in a good way. I honestly thought Russia had more chances of winning, not only because of how easily they had won against Serbia, but also because Germany had just played an exhausting 5-set semifinal and I didn’t know whether they would still have enough energy to fight back. But watching the first 3 sets of the actual game I don’t think anyone could predict how it would end: both teams were playing at the same (outstanding) level. The crowd of the Max Schmeling Halle was on fire, especially after Germany won the second set (did they really play Italian songs during the timeouts? And… were those the Belgian players, dancing and waving German flags? I can’t confirm that, I was too focused on the match, but it was a nice touch :D), and kept supporting the home team until the very last ball fell (right in front of me. Ouch): in the fourth set Russians finally showed their superiority and closed the match with a 3-1 win. So congratulations to them, for their 18th gold medal!
The awarding ceremony was another wonderful moment to watch: unfortunately the Italian national team was nowhere near that podium, but watching the 3 best teams in Europe finally being awarded was really exciting. And I was even happier when some of my favorite players (Margareta Kozuch, Christiane Furst, Jovana Brakocevic, Lise Van Hecke) were given individual awards for their extraordinary performances. I think I was as happy to be there as the Belgians were to be on that podium 🙂 seriously, take a look at ANY pic of the awarding ceremony and you’ll know what I mean!
And for all of this I have to thank you! Without your contest I would have never been able to experience any of this, so THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving me this chance!!!
Gabriella Dabbene
