Tears dropped over the Capital Gymnasium after the United States toppled defending champion Brazil 3-1 to win the gold medal of the Olympic men's volleyball in 20 years on Sunday.

The US players, who were hugging teammates and coaches one minute before, realized something important undone in the next minutes. So, they began to yell, to look around the court, to jump over the courtside bars and climb into the spectator stands -- to go to their families.

Clayton Stanley, the best scorer and best server of the tournament, gave his first kiss after the match to his girl friend, while four-time Olympian Lloy Ball held his wife and seven-year-old son in arms tightly, as the little boy was trying to wipe off tears from the faces of his parents.

"You know, you spend five years travelling around playing. You're trying to stop by (home) every now and then to make sure your kid remembers what your face looks like. Trying to make relationships and marriages work, it's a strain," said Ball.

But the efforts and strains were definitely worthy. It's the third gold for the American men volleyballers, who also won the championship at the 1984 and 1988 Games.

Together with one silver in the women's field and two gold medals in beach volleyball, the once volleyball empire announced its revival in Beijing in an almost-perfect way.

The newly-crowned World League champion United States proved their quality with a 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 victory in the game of strength and delicacy, skill and bluff, and individual energy and teamwork.

Stanley led all play in the final with 20 points, while Dante Amaral contributed 15 points to Brazil.

"It was a very difficult match, a very difficult environment. Our guys embraced it. Brazil seemed more comfortable in the first set, but things changed in the second set, and after that it was just two teams battling hard," said the US head coach Hugh McCutcheon.

"When we were putting together a plan (for the Games), we knew we had to peak in '08. We've been learning from what they're (Brazil) doing, their systems," he said.

The gold medal posed to be a bitter-sweet gift to the US head coach, whose father-in-law was stabbed to death in Beijing during the tournament. He walked away from the hilarious crowd after Stanley scored the last point and looked up at the ceiling for a while.

"It's been a very emotionally demanding couple of weeks. After we won, I had to step outside and collect myself," he said. "On one hand, my heart aches for my wife and for the loss of my family, but one the other, I felt proud for the team."

The Brazilian fans, though may be disappointed with the silver in this highly-expected event, should somehow get comfort from their superior women compatriots, who won their first-ever gold in another U.S.-Brazil final just one day ago.

Brazil captain Gilberto Godoy Filho, or better known "Giba", expressed congratulations to the rivals' victory as well as condolence to McCutcheon.

"Life is more important than the medal and family always goes the first," Giba told Xinhua after the match.

Four years ago in Athens, the world's No. 1 attacker celebrated the arrival of his first child, his daughter Nicoll, who was born during the Games, with his first individual Olympic gold.

The 31-year-old father, planned to prepare the same gift for his son Patrick, who was expected to be born before September 10, but he failed.

"I'm very sad for the loss, but our silver medal is also a victory. I can't wait to see he was born. I want to tell him I have tried," said Giba.

Earlier in the morning, Russia won the bronze medal after trouncing Italy 25-22, 25-19 and 25-23.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2008)