Olympic Survey (Oct 1)

Yugoslav volleyball players take the Olympic gold

Sydney, October 1 - Yugoslav men's national volleyball team has taken the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Sydney after beating Russia 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-20) in the finals.

Two grueling five-set preliminary round losses to Russia and Italy left the Yugoslavs in danger of crashing out of the competition.

But they learned their lessons, avenging both defeats. They advanced to the final with a quarterfinal win over defending champions the Netherlands and an impressive straight-sets semifinal victory over three-time world champion Italy.

In the gold medal rematch with Russia, Yugoslavia won almost all the key points, coming from behind in the opening two sets to forge a 2-0 advantage.

In the third set, Russia displayed little fight.

Both sides began nervously and unleashed very aggressive serving, which although producing several service aces provoked a large number of faults. Neither side was able to establish a clear lead, and the scores were locked at 21-21. But a service ace from Yugoslav young star Ivan Miljkovic, followed by a Russian hitting error, saw the Yugoslavs snatch the decisive break they needed. Another hitting error from the Russians gave the set to Yugoslavia.

Ivan Miljkovic drops to his knees after giving his team the final point

The second set was also close and included several thrilling long rallies which tested both teams to the limit. Nikola Grbic set up two set points and Goran Vujevic produced an unreturnable serve to put his team 2-0 up.

The third set began with the Russians starting another combination of players, still unable to find the key to playing effectively. A string of blocks and some more Russian errors saw the Yugoslavs establish a clear ascendancy. An inspirational defensive save and recovery to block for a point by Vladimir Grbic only added to the Yugoslavian momentum. Ivan Miljkovic, the future of Yugoslavian volleyball, smashed down the unstoppable spike which gave the Yugoslavs the final point they needed for victory in a third set which had become one-sided towards the end.

YUGOSLAVIA - RUSSIA 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-20)

Venue: Enertainment Centre. Attendance: 10,000. Duration of sets: 1st - 21:00, 2nd - 25:00, 3rd - 22:00.

YUGOSLAVIA: Batez, Kovac, Boskan, Mester (points scored: 5), Mijic (libero), Nikola Grbic (3), Vladimir Grbic (14), Geric (6), Vujevic (10), Miljkovic (19), Petkovic, Vusurovic.

RUSSIA: Khamouttskikh, Olikhver (7), Goriouchev, Choulepov (6), Kazakov (3), Mitkov (libero), Tetioukhine (11), Iakovlev (8), Ushakov (1), Guerassimov (2), Saveliev (3), Kouloechov (5).

Grbic brothers!

"Everything happened according to our wishes and plans. I think that we could not lose this game. Players looked powerful, self-confident, they have never been motivated like that. Russian players were aware of that, I saw fear in their eyes for the first time. I repeat, the hardest game was against Holland, victories against Italy and Russia go down in history of Olympic Games". (Zoran Gajic, Yugoslavia's coach).

"We are stronger than everybody. We went shortest way to the triumph. We did not have mercy. Everybody congratulate us, we all enjoy, although we are not aware of great triumph". (Vladimir Grbic, player).

"We have never been more certain of victory, since we won Italians. We played as one, enjoyed in every point, which we had won. We deprived spectators of longer enjoyment, but we did not want to give even a set". (Nikola Grbic, player).

Around me are brave guys, so I did not have stage fright. There is no end to my happiness, after silver and bronze, a gold came. And yet Olympic!" (Ivan Miljkovic, the youngest player of the final game).

Yugoslavia won bronze medal at the water polo tournament of the Olympic Games in Sydney, after defeating Spain in the third place match 8-3 (2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-0).

Match against Spain went, completely unexpected, without any problems. Yugoslav team controlled the game with disciplined and organized game since the beginning.

Spain team players so-so offered resistance in the first two quarters. At the end of the second quarter, Uskokovic scored after great action of Vasovic (4-2), so that all doubts over the winner would be removed in the third quarter. With the second score of Uskokovic, and after Ikodinovic's goal, Yugoslavia took a 6-2 lead and secured a victory.

"Today we have played very good game. Some misses in the attack we compensated with great game in the defence, so we won at the end more than convincingly and meritorious. We cannot, however, forget the finals, where we did not reached because of one lost game", Aleksandar Sapic said.

Captain Aleksandar Sostar reminded that Olympic tournament was very hard.

"We should be satisfied with what we achieved, regardless of our opinion that we had to go to the finals. I think that we, during the whole competition, showed the game on high level, having lost only one game, in contrast to already new champions Hungarians, who were twice defeated at the tournament. That is, however, the system of competition", Sostar stated.

RESULTS - October 1

Final: Hungary - Russia 13-6 (3-2 2-2 5-1 3-1)
Third place match: YUGOSLAVIA - Spain 8-3 (2-0 2-1 2-1 2-1). Scorers for Yugoslavia: Vladimir Vujasinovic 3, Veljko Uskokovic 2, Aleksandar Sapic, Petar Trbojevic, Danilo Ikodinovic. Scorers for Spain: Manuel Estiarte 2, Gustavo Marcos.
Classification match - For places 5 and 6: Italy - U.S. 10-8 (2-2 1-3 3-1 4-2).
Classification match - For places 7 and 8: Croatia - Australia 10-8 (2-2 4-2 2-2 2-2)
Classification match - For places 9 to 12: Kazakhstan - Netherlands 6-4 (1-1 2-1 2-0 1-2)
Greece - Slovakia 12-8 (5-1 1-1 3-4 3-2)

Natasa Janic achieved the great success, having won the fourth place in today's final race of women's K1 500metres kayak at Olympic Games competition in Sydney.

She reached the finish line with a time of 2:16.506 minutes, only 1,368 seconds behind Australian Catrin Borchert, who won bronze medal.

"Natasa, objectively, rowed good, but inexperience was crucial. The fact that she has only 18 years should not be ignored. She again proved great potential and I think that Natasa, at this time, is the most perspective kayaker in the world", according to Natasa Janic's coach, her father Milan, who was the prominent Yugoslav kayak team player at one time.

Women's K1 500m Final

1 Idem Guerrini  (ITA)       2:13.848
2 Brunet Caroline  (CAN)     2:14.646
3 Borchert Katrin (AUS)      2:15.138
4 JANIC NATASA (YUG)         2:16.506
5 Urbanczyk Elzbieta  (POL)  2:18.018
6 Koban Rita (HUN)           2:19.668
7 Nortje Ruth  (RSA)         2:20.274
8 Profanter Uschi (AUT)      2:20.598
9 Olsson Anna (SWE)          2:24.774