Men’s Olympic Volleyball Gold and Bronze Medal Odds & Picks
- Russia is the -175 favorite to defeat France in the Olympic men’s volleyball gold medal match on Saturday, August 7
- The Russians toppled reigning Olympic champion Brazil in the semifinals
- Brazil is an overwhelming -675 favorite over Argentina in the bronze medal match
The final matches of men’s volleyball at the Tokyo Summer Olympics are taking on a geographic flavor. ROC (Russia) is facing France in an all-European clash for the gold medal. Meanwhile, old rivals Brazil and Argentina square off in the battle for the bronze medal in an all-South America matchup.
ROC is the -175 favorites to topple the French and win the fifth men’s volleyball gold medal in the country’s history. Those totals date back to the days of the former Soviet Union.
Brazil is a prohibitive -625 choice to beat the Argentinians. Gold medal winners on their home court at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, the Brazilians are the only medal winners from that Olympiad still in the hunt for a medal in Tokyo.
Olympic Men’s Volleyball Gold Medal Odds
| Match | Odds |
|---|---|
| France | +145 |
| ROC | -175 |
Odds as of August 6 at DraftKings
ROC took out the defending champion Brazilians 18-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-23 in their semifinal match. ROC had previously defeated world #1 Brazil in straight sets during preliminary round play.
In the semifinal victory, Maxim Mikhaylov, playing in his fourth Olympic Games, paced ROC with 22 points. Egor Kliuka contributed 15 points and Ivan Iakovlev scored 12.
Russia earned medals in four straight Olympic Games, culminating in a gold medal triumph at the 2012 London Summer Games. However, that streak came to an end in Rio. Russia lost the bronze medal match to the USA. It marked the first time since Atlanta in 1996 that the Russians left the Olympics without a men’s volleyball medal.
The French, ranked #4 in the world entering the Olympic Games, have never won an Olympic medal in men’s volleyball. In fact, the French had never reached the semifinal stage prior to Tokyo.
All-European final also in the #Volleyball men's competition. ROC beat #Rio2016 Olympic Champions of Brazil 🇧🇷 and France 🇫🇷 killed Argentina's dream 🇦🇷.
🔎👉🏼 https://t.co/tRJv61faac📸 @volleyballworld #EuropeanVolleyball #UnitedByEmotion #StrongerTogether #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/qsWG2sNpFv
— European Volleyball (@CEVolleyball) August 5, 2021
En route to the gold medal match, France downed Volleyball Nations League finalist and world #3 Poland in the quarterfinals in a thrilling five-set match. In the semifinals, France defeated #6 Argentina in straight sets 25-22, 25-19, 25-22. Jean Patry led France with 15 points, while Trevor Clevenot was right behind him with 14 points.
In the 2021 Nations League semifinals, France fell in straight sets to Brazil 25-20, 25-18, 25-19. The French gained their semifinal place ahead of ROC by virtue of having a lower set ratio. The French team won 11 games during Nations League play.
Included in those victories was a 3-1 decision over ROC. France also beat ROC 3-1 in preliminary round action at the Tokyo Summer Games.
Pick: France (+145)
Olympic Men’s Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Odds
| Match | Odds |
|---|---|
| Argentina | +425 |
| Brazil | -675 |
Brazil has won medals in men’s volleyball at four successive Olympic Games. Along with 2016, the Brazilians also won a gold medal at Athens in 2004.
Only Russia (eight) owns more Olympic men’s volleyball medals than the six won by Brazil. There were silver medals earned in Beijing (2008) and London (2012).
The Brazilians are led by setter Bruno Mossa Rezende. Bruninho, as he’s better known, has already won two Olympic silver medals and a gold medal. The newest Brazilian star is opposite hitter Alan Souza, who made his Olympic debut in Tokyo. He was voted the MVP of the 2019 International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World Cup season.
Brazil's hopes of retaining their Olympic men's title were crushed after they lost a thrilling four-set semi-final to the Russian Olympic Committee. The Russians advanced to the final after an 18-25 25-21 26-24 25-23 victory over the world's top ranked team #Tokyo2020 #Volleyball pic.twitter.com/AapxVAEEwO
— Football & All (@FootballAndAll) August 5, 2021
The Brazilians defeated Poland 3-1 to win the country’s first Nations League title. Brazil won silver medals in the first two Nations League competitions.
Argentina’s best Olympic finish was a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games. The Argentinians finished fourth at Sydney in 2000. They are 3-3 in Tokyo. Argentina beat France 3-2 in preliminary round play but were swept by the French in the semifinals. Argentina also shows losses to ROC (3-1) and Brazil (3-2). They opened the Olympic tournament 0-2 before rallying with three straight victories to reach the semifinals.
The match with Brazil showed set scores of 25-19, 25-21, 16-25, 21-25 and 16-14 in favor of the Brazilians. Bruno Lima scored 26 points for Argentina in the match.
Pick: Brazil (-625)
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
