London Olympics 2012: Edinburgh ace Joanne Morgan insists Team GB volleyball team did themselves proud

By DANIEL SCHOFIELD
Published on 06/08/2012 11:15

EDINBURGH volleyball star Joanne Morgan’s London 2012 adventure may have come to a conclusion in Team GB’s straight-sets defeat to Japan, but she believes the legacy of their maiden Olympics will live on.

Team GB were unable to 
repeat their upset defeat of Algeria but they went down fighting in their 25-19, 25-14, 25-12 loss to the experienced Japanese.

And Morgan, 28, believes they bow out with their heads held high, especially considering they receive no direct funding from UK Sport. “We did this for ourselves, we have proved to everyone else we can do that,” she said. “We are disappointed not to make the quarter-finals but the win [over Algeria] was a fantastic achievement.

“Everyone has had to make sacrifices to get to this point but they are all worth it. We are so happy we are here competing and playing against the very best teams. Sometimes just winning a point can be a big morale booster. You don’t know what the long-term impact will be but hopefully it will put volleyball on the map and we will get more numbers involved.”

Great Britain, 69th in the world, were always going to be up against it versus the fifth seeds and although they were tied in the third set at 10-10, 
Japan pulled away with ease. “Japan are a world-class team and they beat us because they are better than us,” said Morgan. “They make so few errors and make you earn every point.”