U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
The U.S. Women’s
National Team capped off a
productive year by qualifying for the Olympics with a silver- medal fi nish at the FIVB World Cup. Now,
it’s all about upgrading to gold at the
world’s biggest sporting event.
Next stop, London O
By Don Patterson
ne day during the FIVB World Cup in Japan in November, U.S. Wom- en’s National Team middle blocker Heather Bown got on the elevator, stared at the buttons and couldn’t for the life of her fi gure out what fl oor she and her teammates were staying on. Simple explanation. Fatigue. Playing 11 matches in 15 days against the world’s top teams with three berths to the Olympics on the line is nothing short of grueling.
“Grueling is an understatement,” U.S.
Women’s National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “In a lot of ways, it’s a pretty fair way to decide Olympic berths, but as the tournament progresses, the load of continually having to show up every day and perform to the best of your ability is demand- ing, to say the least.” Of course, that’s the point. Weed out the not-quite-ready for prime-time teams and reward the top three fi nishers with a ticket to the Games next summer in London. “It’s supposed to be hard,” Bown said.
28 | VOLLEYBALLUSA
“They want the best of the best to come out of it.”
The U.S. Women proved to be just that, taking the silver medal to earn the podium fi nish necessary to qualify for the Olympics. The other two teams awarded a spot in the London draw at the World Cup were gold- medalist Italy and bronze-medalist China. The strong U.S. fi nish was further evidence that the U.S. Women will be very serious contenders for the gold medal in Lon- don. Last summer, the team was rock solid at the FIVB World Grand Prix, taking the gold medal after winning 12 of 14 matches in a tournament that included all of the world’s top teams. The silver-medal performance at the World Cup in November was built on a similar win-loss ratio – nine victories in 11 matches – that included a huge tournament- opening win over then No. 1-ranked Brazil and two notable results in the pressure-fi lled fi nal week of the tournament: a fi ve-set win over China and a four-set win over Italy. By taking second at the World Cup, the
U.S. Women avoided the angst of a pro- longed Olympic qualifying process that, in a worst-case scenario, could have dragged into late spring of 2012. Had they not gotten it done in Japan, they would have had to play in a NORCECA Olympic Qualifi er April 27-May 6 which would have disrupted each player’s pro club season and meant tangling with two teams that are starting to hit their stride: Dominican Republic and Cuba. Ac- complishing the goal in November was a nice burden to be rid of for both players and coaches, and it wrapped up an international season that had plenty of highlights. “There’s a lot to be proud of,” McCutch- eon said. “It’s been a very good year, we played some really good volleyball at times, and it was nice to qualify for the Olympics. Now we can focus on getting ready for London.”
The only major disappointment in 2011 came in the fi nal match of the World Cup. With the goal of qualifying for the Olympics already reached but a gold medal in their
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