Italy beats defending champion US for gold in women's volleyball at Paris Olympics

PARIS (AP) — Monica De Gennaro of Italy made three previous trips to the Olympics only to leave empty-handed each time.

Finally, at age 37, she's going home with the gold.

Italy beat the defending champion U.S. team Sunday to win gold in women’s volleyball at the Paris Olympics.

“It feels special," she said. "It’s the dream of every player to play in the final of the Olympics and win it. It is something unique. We worked so hard for so many years to be able to reach this final.”

When Italy scored the match point to end it, many of the players collapsed to the court, then began hugging in a huge scrum. Together they tossed De Gennaro into the air.

The victory came in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-17. The Italians ended a dominant tournament having lost just one set.

It’s the first medal in the sport for top-ranked Italy and sends the Americans home in disappointment after they won their first Olympic title in Tokyo. It’s a huge win for the Italians, whose previous best Olympic finish was fifth.

“It means everything," Alessia Orro said. “There’s a lot of hard work, a lot of sweat, many sacrifices and many disappointments that have brought us this far. They made us take this path, they made us win the gold.”

The victory came in front of a boisterous crowd at South Paris Arena, where many fans waved Italian and U.S. flags. People danced and cheered as the Italians romped to the win.

The U.S. was up 6-5 in the third set before Italy scored the next seven points to take a 12-6 lead. The Americans fought back, scoring three of the next four points.

The U.S. got within 19-16 before Italy closed it out with a 6-1 run capped by the match point by Paola Egonu, who had a dominant performance, scoring 22 points.

“It’s magnificent," Italy's Caterina Bosetti said. "It’s the match that I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

Myriam Sylla beamed while wearing her gold medal as she spoke to reporters after the win. The 29-year-old, who was a first-time Olympian, was asked how it felt around her neck.

“It’s heavy like ... the journey that we did to achieve it," she said.

The silver finish by the Americans gives them a seventh Olympic medal to make them the winningest country in the volleyball.

“I will walk away being very proud that we were able to play on the last day of competition,” American Jordyn Poulter said. “And I think it feels even more sweet to us because of just all that we have gone through as a team.”

Italy swept Turkey in straight sets to reach the final while the U.S. beat Brazil in a five-set thriller for its spot in the game.

U.S. coach Karch Kiraly changed the lineup after a five-set loss to China on July 29 to start group-stage play. He moved veterans Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook to the bench in favor of Avery Skinner and Kathryn Plummer.

The move worked, and the team defeated Serbia the next time out to get back on track. But on Sunday, it wasn’t enough to get past the mighty Italian team and repeat as champions.

Kiraly was impressed with the way his team fought through adversity to reach the final.

“It was absolutely awesome to see that when we got pushed to the limit … how capable this group was, how much resolve it had, how much grit it had,” he said. “That was probably the best thing to learn in these Olympics.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Italy supported wave a flag during a gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States of America and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italy celebrating a point during a gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States of America and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Paola Egonu of Italy takes the ball during a gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States of America and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

US players react disappointed during a gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States of America and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Jordan Larson of the United States, and Haleigh Washington of the United States, reacts behind the net during a gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States of America and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italy's team celebrates winning the gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States of America and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italy's players celebrate after winning the gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

From left Gabriela Braga of Brazil, Paola Egonu of Italy and Chiaka Ogbogu of the United States, show their medals after ceremony at the end of the women's volleyball final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France.(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italy's team celebrates with their gold medals on the podium during the medals ceremony at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Monica de Gennaro of Italy is thrown in the air by her team after winning a gold medal women's volleyball match between the United States of America and Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Unauthorized migration to European Union countries dropped significantly overall in the first eight months of this year, even as political rhetoric and violence against migrants increased and far-right parties espousing anti-immigration policies made gains at the polls.

There was, however, a spike in migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that is increasingly used as an alternate stepping stone to continental Europe.

Irregular migration dominated the European parliamentary elections in June and influenced recent state elections in eastern Germany, where a far-right party won for the first time since World War II. The German government this week announced it was expanding border controls around its territory following recent extremist attacks.

Despite the heated debates, irregular crossings over the southern borders of the EU — the region that sees the most unauthorized migration — were down by 35% from January to August, according to the latest preliminary figures compiled by the United Nation's International Organization for Migration.

Nearly 115,000 migrants — less than 0.03% of the EU’s population — have arrived without permission into the EU via Mediterranean and Atlantic routes so far this year, compared to 176,252 during the same period last year, the U.N. says. In contrast, more than a million people, most of them fleeing conflict in Syria, entered the EU in 2015.

Data shared by the EU's border and coast guard agency Frontex shows a similar trend: Unauthorized crossings over the region's southern borders fell 39% overall this year compared to last year.

“The emergency is not numerical this year, nor was it last year," Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesperson with the IOM office for the Mediterranean, told The Associated Press.

Camille Le Coz, an associate director of the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute in Europe, said irregular migration is “getting way too much attention compared to the scope of the issue and compared to other issues Europe should be tackling, such as climate change."

The most commonly used route for migrants is from North Africa, across the dangerous Central Mediterranean to Italy. Yet roughly 64% fewer migrants disembarked in Italy this year than during the same period in 2023, according to IOM and Frontex numbers.

Experts say that’s a result of the EU-supported crackdown in Tunisia and Libya, which comes at a price for migrants, many of whom are systematically rounded up and dumped in the desert.

How long the downward trend will hold remains to be seen, however. Smugglers are always quick to adapt and find new routes around border controls. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the second-most-used route, smuggling networks are now using speedboats in increasingly aggressive ways to avoid controls and targeting islands farther away from the Turkish coast in the central Aegean, according to Greek authorities.

The number of migrants arriving in Greece by sea and overland during the first eight months of the year rose by 57%, U.N. data shows.

Meanwhile, irregular migration from West Africa to the Canary Islands via the Atlantic, the third-most-used route, has more than doubled: More than 25,500 migrants — mostly from Mali, Senegal and other West African countries — had arrived in the islands as of Aug. 31, the U.N. says.

Countless other migrants have gone missing along the route, where rough winds and strong Atlantic currents work against them. Several migrant boats, carrying only the remains of Malian, Mauritanian and Senegalese citizens, have been found this year drifting as far away as the Caribbean and off Brazil. Precise numbers are hard to verify, but the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders has reported more than 4,000 dead or missing.

The trend has Spanish authorities on alert for the fall, when conditions in the Atlantic are most favorable for the journey. The treacherousness of the route seems to have done little to dissuade would-be migrants, whose ranks have swelled to include people from Syria and Pakistan, according to rescuers.

“There are situations that need to be addressed, like the situation in the Canary Islands,” Le Coz acknowledged.

The adult migrants who successfully make it to the Canaries usually keep moving, headed for the promise of jobs and safety in mainland Spain or other European countries farther north. But that is not the case for thousands of unaccompanied minors. Under Spanish law, these young migrants must be taken under the wing of the local government, leading to overcrowded shelters and a political crisis. Earlier this year, island leaders fought unsuccessfully to have other regions of Spain share the responsibility.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recently traveled to three West African countries in an attempt to curb migration. In Senegal, he and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye signed agreements to promote temporary work opportunities in Spain for Senegalese nationals and vocational training in Senegal. They also agreed to step up police cooperation.

Current anti-immigrant sentiments notwithstanding, Europe’s aging population, declining birth rates and labor shortages have only increased the need for immigrant workers to sustain pensions and boost economic growth.

And as long as migrants lack opportunities in their own countries, their exodus will continue. Add to this the growing instability and conflict in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia that have displaced millions.

“There is no magic deterrence,” Le Coz said. “Migrants end up taking the toll of all of this: They are risking their lives, doing jobs in Europe where they face uncertain legal status for years and are vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation."

While long-term solutions to tackle unauthorized migration are being implemented, such as temporary work programs for migrants, they are still falling short.

“That’s one step in the right direction, but this needs to happen at a much larger scale, and they need the private sector to be more involved,” Le Coz added.

Follow AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

CORRECTS TO DELETE THE EXTRANEOUS WORD OF "UNAUTHORIZED" FROM THE SUBJECTS - FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

FILE - A child is carried ashore from a crowded wooden boat as unauthorized migrants arrive at the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

FILE - Unauthorized migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

FILE - Unauthorized migrants react as they arrive at the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, on, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

FILE - Unauthorized migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)