After the sixth place in the Sydney Olympic Games, the Brazilian men’s national team underwent some important changes ahead of the 2001 season.

In an exciting final match against Serbia and Montenegro, Brazil won the World League gold medal for the third time, beating its opponent 3–2 in Madrid.

After that, the team was defeated by Venezuela in the semifinal of the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and ended up with the bronze in the competition.

In August, the Brazilian men's team won the second Olympic gold medal of its history, which happened in Athens in 2004 (the first one was conquered in Barcelona in 1992).

To end this great season, Bernardo Rezende’s team secured the gold medal in the World Grand Champions Cup in Japan.

[2] Head coach: Bernardo Rezende[3] Incidentally, the Maracanã Stadium holds the all-time volleyball attendance record when 95,000 turned out to watch Brazil beat the USSR in an open-air friendly game in 1983.