Let the last day begin. It is something different about walking to the beach volleyball arena tonight. Maybe because it was the last night…

The last shift..

…started with dinner, like the day before and then it was time to move to the tribunes. The experience from last night taught us that journalists come at least an hour early. The reason is that we have limited places and a lot of journalists that want to work or watch the final games.

Today was surprisingly not that crowded. It might have something to do with the fact that Brazil was not playing till the gold game, which was the last.

The weather was also in the mood to play some tricks on us. 😀 All of a sudden, it decided to start raining. Luckily, we managed to cover the tables and monitors and search for cover, but it didn’t stop there. The rain came and went several times and every time the pause was just long enough for people to think that it had stopped raining, but then it started again 😀

So the gold medal match was in rain, but luckily, the mood and spirit of the volunteers was good, even though there were some journalists who wanted more from us. But hey – we can’t fight the weather. :D. In the end, I had some Italian journalists helping to dry the tables and chairs, and to put on or remove covers. 😀 It was great team work.

The final games

Bronze game: Russia vs Netherlands men – (Netherlands won 2:0). It was an exciting game but the Dutch guys were still better than the Russians.

Between the bronze and the gold game the veterans of volleyball were playing.

Gold game: Italy vs Brazil men – (Brazil won 2:0). A very close and exciting game. The tribunes were completely full even though it was raining. When Brazil won, the party started. People were jumping and singing and shouting. The players were as ecstatic.

The medal ceremony was right after the gold match. Although it took a while to start, much longer than it did for women. It might have something to do with that Brazil won.

After the medal ceremony, I went back the venue media center to get my volleyball. (That now had 2 autographs on it already) I knew that I would wait until after the press conference, but I didn’t know how long that would take.

The guys were really popular. 😀 When the press conference ended, they had another live interview with the Brazilian sports TV. Just mentioning that it all went on around 2 am 😀

But… I reached my goal. 😀 I managed to get all 4 autographs (from the Olympic gold winners) on my volleyball. What a souvenir! Not something you can buy in a shop.

The final goodbyes

After the players had left and the media center was getting empty it was time to relax. We all headed to the Olympic family tent for a final party.

We were then playing beach volley with some of the team. It was great!