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ARG/ARGENTINA
With a strong Latin American
element, Argentina appear ready to spring surprises
on the other medal contenders at the Athens Olympic
tournament. After all, it was one such surprise that
they reserved early this year for Venezuela, whom
they defeated in the South America Olympic
Qualification tournament, on the Venezuelans’ own
home ground in Caracas, which secured them their
ticket to Athens.
The Argentine team finished fourth in the Sydney
Olympic Games, eliminating their perennial opponents
Brazil in the quarterfinal. It was the only defeat
the Celeção suffered, a defeat that did not allow
them to contend for a medal.
The homeland of Tango made its Olympic debut in Los
Angeles in 1984, where they finished sixth. In Seoul
four years later, Argentina climbed onto the third
step of the podium and ranked eighth in 1996, in
Atlanta. The greatest international success of the
‘gauchos’ was the bronze medal in 1982 at the event
they hosted in Buenos Aires. The team of Marcos
Milinkovic, who will be taking part in his third
Olympic tournament, the multitalented Jorge Elgueta
and the efficient libero Pablo Meana are hoping to
haunt the great teams in the sport.
This team hasn’t had the best of build ups after the
Argentina Federation (FAV) was suspended in 1993 for
non respect of the FIVB decisions about its
suspended, then expelled former president Mario
Goijman. A new federation (FE.V.A. – Federation del
Voleibol Argentino) replaced the expelled FAV as the
official body of Argentine Volleyball earlier this
year and the men’s team has been playing as many
warm up games as possible. Good results in July
against the likes of Canada and Australia are a
strong signal that all is still well in Argentine
Volleyball and the blue and whites will still be a
threat in Athens. |
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