It’s a silver lining for Fernanda Garay…

The 34-year-old Brazilian professional volleyball player and her Brazil teammates lost to Team USA in the gold medal match of women’s volleyball tournament at the 2020 Tokyo Games, settling for the silver.

Brazil lost the match in straight sets to the Americans, 21-25, 20-25,- 14-25.

Garay was a member of the Brazil team that won the gold medal at the 2012 London Games.

It’s the first-ever Olympic gold for Team USA.

After the match, Garay recognized the strategic superiority of the Americans on the court, but asserted that the Brazilians gave their all.

“I think our preparation was the best possible, we knew the difficulty of this game, as it is an Olympic final. We knew that they would give their all, I have no doubt that we also gave our all. Maybe strategically they were able to play better than us, they were very aggressive on the serve, and we had to keep holding and behind the score many times. I’m very proud of our group, of what we’ve done so far,” she told TV Globo.

“They had more adversity than us, who managed to impose themselves in more games, this may have strengthened them at this time. We had no doubt that we could have a great game, they were better, and that’s what sport is all about. One hour is gained, another is lost. Unfortunately, today was our turn to feel defeat, and it hurts like hell, but I’m really proud of what we’ve done. We fought a lot and left everything on the court”, she added.

Garay confirmed that this final was her last Olympics, taking the opportunity to exalt the group with whom he lived in recent years.

“It’s terrible now, because we couldn’t win. But the sport is like that, it was great to be with this group all this time. I enjoyed every moment with these girls, I am very proud of them. A group that came discredited and strengthened in times of difficulty, I return home proud of everything we’ve done and where we’ve come from”, she concluded.