The USA women are officially the No. 1 team in the world. After beating Brazil yet again in the World Cup this month and qualifying for the Olympics, the women have finally satisfied the FIVB's complicated ranking system and come out on top. Though the Americans finished in second place in World Cup to a very hot Italian team, they beat Italy in pool play, ending up just two points behind them after losing their last match to Japan 3-0.
The Americans got help from the Brazilians who suffered some uncharacteristic losses at World Cup. Brazil finished in fifth place overall with three total losses to USA, Italy and Japan.
It could be argued that the American women should have been in this spot for months, but somehow the FIVB's system kept Brazil in the top spot even after the U.S. defeated them in the 2010 and 2011 Grand Prix Tournaments.
This American team definitely deserves the ranking and though they are by and large a young squad, they seem poised enough to handle the pressure of being top dog.
Now that they've gotten the business of qualifying out of the way at the first opportunity, they can relax a bit and focus solely on being ready for London in 248 days.
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