Velasco sends message to Baggio as Italy’s women win first Olympic volleyball gold

Julio Velasco, the coach of Italy’s women’s volleyball team, sent a message to Roberto Baggio after the Azzurre won the first-ever Olympic gold: ‘He should be in peace.’

Italy’s women’s volleyball team won its first Olympic gold medal on Sunday, beating the USA 3-0.

Velasco, the national team coach who had lost an Olympic Final at Atlanta 1996 as the men’s team boss, mentioned Italy legend Baggio during a post-match interview with Rai.

Velasco sends message to Baggio as Italy’s women win first Olympic volleyball gold

When asked if he felt redeemed after finally winning Olympic gold, he replied: “No, I don’t feel like Baggio, who says he has no peace after missing that penalty. He should be in peace, too; it happens.

“That team [in 1996] was extraordinary and lost a game for two balls. I accepted it because it’s part of sport. I’ve never been obsessed because I didn’t have a gold medal.”

Baggio has often said that the missed penalty in the 1994 World Cup Final in Pasadena was still hunting him.

“You can’t cancel things like that,” Baggio said in his latest interview with Il Corriere della Sera at the end of December 2023.

“I can’t get rid of it. I had imagined a game against Brazil many times. I was three years old in 1970 and could not forget that Final. I wanted to get revenge for Riva and the others. It was my dream, and the world collapsed on me when it ended that way.”