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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Under the guidance of legendary coach Karch Kiraly, the women's volleyball team of the United States expected to win "something special" at the upcoming Rio Olympic Games.
Having collected three silvers and a bronze at the past Games, the American women will strive for their first ever Olympic gold medal in Rio.
"I don't know if that happens this year or down the road, but that's part of our job, to try to contend as fiercely as we can at every tournament we enter," said Kiraly, who himself has won Olympic gold medals in both beach and indoor categories as a player, at a press conference Monday morning.
"We know that tournaments like the world championships, the World Cup and the Olympics are the ones that teams and fans around the world focus on a lot, so we're excited to have another chance to try to contend for something special here."
The U.S. team lost to Brazil in the last two Olympic Games finals while their most recent head-to-head defeat came in July when the Brazilians beat them to clinch the title of 2016 World Grand Prix Finals.
"Brazil certainly has a great program. One of the elite and legendary programs in women's international volleyball, and in men's for that matter also," Kiraly said. "They have a lot of players back from one or two Olympic gold medals. A lot of the staff, a lot of the great coaching staff is also back and now they get to host. So Brazil has to be one of the favorites here."
"The storm that they threw at us four years ago, they played a great, great match in that final after the first set. The only way that USA or any team for that matter can overcome that is a team can battle extremely well together with a lot of the trust that Christa (Dietzen) was talking about," he added.
The United States will face Puerto Rico, the Netherlands, Serbia, China and Italy in the pool play starting on Saturday with the top four finishers from the group to advance to the quarter-finals. Enditem
