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dpa
Rio de Janeiro
Brazil added one more gold medal to their trove Sunday on the last day of the Rio Olympics, beating Italy 79-72 to the title in men's volleyball.
The match in the Maracanazinho arena was hard-fought, with the two teams neck and neck most of the time. But Brazil, fired on by football star Neymar and other fans among the spectators, took the first three sets 25-22, 28-26 and 26-24.
Brazil have now made it to the gold match six times, surpassing the Soviet Union record for the most Olympic finals in men's volleyball. Brazil last held the title in 2004 and took silver in 2008 and 2012.
Italy won silver in 2004 and bronze in 2012, but have never managed to get gold.
But both Brazil and Italy have now equalled the Soviet record of winning a total of six Olympic medals in the men's tournament.
The bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro was snatched by the United States on Sunday, following a close-fought showdown with Russia.
The Russians looked set to make quick work of their rivals at the beginning of the match, winning the first two sets 25-23, 25-21. But the Americans then fought back in the third and fourth set with scores of 25-19 in each set.
"I thought we were out, honestly. We were down 0-2, a lot of our guys weren't really looking that fired up to play," US player David Lee told journalists after the match."But a few good plays here and there and that's all we needed."
The two teams were neck and neck for much of the decisive fifth set, but the US managed to break away for a 15-13 win in the last frame.
"It wasn't the storybook ending like we all planned for and wanted, but this is a great honour to be coming home with an Olympic medal," US player Micah Christenson said."We're going to wear it proudly."
The Americans returned to the podium for the first time since winning gold eight years ago. Their Russian rivals leave Rio empty-handed, after having won gold at the London Olympics four years ago.
"Maybe during the game I could have played better and the team could have played better, but let's be objective, some win and some lose," Russia's Alexey Verbov said."Emotionally we gave everything."
