Not every USA team won a gold medal at the Olympics. Obviously the two basketball teams did. I was pulling for the men's volleyball team, but they ended up with the bronze medal. I was also pulling for the women's volleyball team, but they didn't strike gold either, which Italy did with a dominant performance over the American women.
But this isn't about that. To get to the final, the USA women had to defeat Brazil in a very tight match. And Brazil took the bronze medal by defeating Türkiye. I happened to watch the semifinal match, and Brazil featured a VERY tall player wearing a big knee brace. She was also quite striking in appearance -- not exactly traditionally gorgeous, but hard not to notice. She was tall and had quite an outgoing competitive personality, and she kept showing up in the shots of the Brazilian side.
After a bit of searching on her name, I finally hit upon her identity. She is Thaisa Daher de Menezes, a Brazilian volleyball legend. (Sorry, I don't really follow international volleyball, so that wasn't something that was obvious to me, but it probably would have been to anybody that follows international women's volleyball.)
So, if you didn't know who she is, like me, here's a couple of links and short quotes about the magnífica Menezes. And pictures, obviously.
"Thaísa Daher de Menezes is a Brazilian professional volleyball player. She won back-to-back gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. She has won numerous Best Spiker and Best Blocker Awards and is often singled out as one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time." (Wikipedia)Fortunately For Curious Fans, Thaisa Menezes Has Been Quite Open About Her Surgeries(personally I think she's had a bit too much work done)
Brazil reveal star-studded roster for Paris 2024
Doing one of the things she's noted for
In case you were wondering.
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