With eight European teams across the men’s and women’s Volleyball competition chasing eternal Olympic glory in Tokyo and another 24 in Beach Volleyball, Europe’s contingent at the upcoming Games in the Japanese capital will include as many as 29 officials and referees as well.
CEV President Aleksandar Boricic will oversee the delivery of the Volleyball competition in his capacity of Technical Delegate for the sport – joined in the Control Committee by another five officials from Europe, namely CEV Senior Vice-President Renato Arena (ITA), CEV Vice-President Lubor Halanda (SVK), as well as Mathieu Meriaux (FRA), Jelena Reljin and 2000 Olympic champion Vladimir Grbic (SRB).
Europe has ‘produced’ some of the world’s best international referees for decades and it does not come as a surprise that as many as seven will officiate at the Olympic tournament. The list includes a number of referees returning to the Olympic stage – Juraj Mokry (SVK), Vladimir Simonovic (SRB), Susana Maria Rodriguez Jativa (ESP) – and another four who will be making their Olympic debut in Tokyo. These are Evgeny Makshanov (RUS), Wojciech Maroszek (POL), Fabrice Collados (FRA), and Daniele Rapisarda (ITA).
Heike Kraft (GER), who officiated at Rio 2016, will travel to the Olympics for a second time, this time in her capacity of Challenge Referee, together with Dutchman Jacobus Nederhoed. Russia’s Sergey Titov will oversee the quality of refereeing at Ariake Arena as one of the Referee Coaches appointed by the FIVB.
Europe enjoys a large representation in the Olympic Beach Volleyball competition as well – with as many as 13 officials / referees due to attend the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Vicente Araujo (POR) will lead the group as Technical Delegate for the sport, with CEV Vice-President Michel Everaert (NED), Marek Pakosta (CZE) and Christopher Schrenk (AUT) among the members of the Technical Committee.
Four elite European referees return to the Olympic stage after enjoying such an experience before – these are José Maria Padron (ESP), Charalambos Papadogoulas (GRE), Davide Crescentini (ITA), and Roman Pristovakin (RUS). Agnieszka Myszkowska (POL) and Rui Carvalho (POR) will be making their maiden Olympic appearance in Tokyo – with the European contingent including also Referee Coach José Casanova (POR) and Challenge Referees Rüdiger Franzen (GER) and Marco Spinnicchia (ITA).
We wish all of these officials and referees the very best of luck and much success in their Olympic endeavours – knowing that they will all contribute to making Volleyball and Beach Volleyball a major success at Tokyo 2020!
