The last day of action of the men’s volleyball tournament at Earls Court 
provided all fans with the right climax deserved by an Olympic final where Brazil initially set the pace of the game but eventually could not capitalize on two opportunities to seal the deal in straight sets. Dmitriy Muserskiy turned into the match winner for Russia as he was moved by coach Alekno to play as opposite starting from the third set and eventually amassed 31 points to anchor his side to the first Olympic gold medal since 1980. Italy eventually completed the podium by edging Bulgaria 3-1 in the classification
match played earlier on Sunday morning.
Russia vs. Brazil 3-2
After two and a half sets the script of the final match in the men’s Olympic tournament was almost completed, with Brazil likely to cruise to their third title, but the South Americans eventually missed out on two match balls before Russia clawed back anchored by a stellar performance of Dmitriy Muserskiy to eventually win gold 32 years after the glorious days of Moscow. This 3-2 win (19-25, 20-25, 29-27, 25-22 and 15-9) will remain forever associated to giant Dmitriy Muserskiy since coach Vladimir Alekno revolutionized his starting six in set 3 by moving Mikhaylov to wing spiker while Muserskiy took over as opposite. The 217 cm tall player of Lokomotiv 
Belgorod literally changed the course of the game as he scored 31 points all alone and he anchored his side to a success that the local volleyball family had been waiting for a long, long time. With this win Russia improved their Olympic record with Brazil to five wins and four losses, extending their lead in the all-time medal tally with 10 medals (four are gold), as Brazil moved up to five, with two gold and three silver. Even though Russia had not stood on top of the podium since 1980, they still had medalled in each edition of the Olympics since 1964 with the only exception being Barcelona 1992 and the Centennial Games celebrated in Atlanta in 1996.
Bulgaria vs. Italy 1-3
