Simone Anzani soared high, his body leaning as he delivered the final, crushing swing.
The moment the ball kissed the floor for the championship point, he dropped to one knee and shook his fist up in the air in celebration.
Anzani held the pose for a breathless second before surrendering fully to the moment, collapsing onto the floor with his arms spread wide, the noise of the arena crashing over him like a tidal wave.
Then he propped himself up, chest heaving, before finally bursting into tears — his fist still shaking from what had transpired.
“No, no, it’s an incredible feeling,” said the 33-year-old middle blocker in an interview with Italy’s live broadcast after their gold medal victory over Bulgaria in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship last Sunday.
“For me, today’s match is something special, because I’m coming from two very difficult years — two years,” Anzani added, as he finished with nine points, his best in the 32-nation tilt, in the final.
For Anzani, it was more than a championship-winning point.
It was the perfect culmination of a fight far greater than the one inside the SM Mall of Asia Arena. It was a battle to return to the sport he loved after a heart problem that once cast doubt on whether he could ever play again.
“Two years where I risked having to stop playing, where I was chasing the Olympics, which was my last goal,” said Anzani, who was diagnosed with a heart condition in 2023, which forced him out of several international tournaments, including the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Yet on this night, with tears streaming down his face and his second World Championship gold medal draped around his neck, all those doubts and dark moments seemed to dissolve.
Anzani was not just back — he was at the very heart of Italy’s rise to the top once more.
“And now I’m here thanks to my family—my wife, my little girls, my parents, my sister, my friends who never left me alone. This is for you, this is for you — for your love, for your patience.”
