Regla Torres
Lorenzo Bernardi
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Regla Torres leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Regla Torres at #2 and Lorenzo Bernardi at #3.
The case for Regla Torres
The finest women's player of the 20th century, as formally recognised by FIVB, and the engine of Cuba's 'Morenas del Caribe'. A middle blocker of extraordinary reach and mobility, Torres won three consecutive Olympic gold medals - Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 - a feat unmatched in indoor volleyball. She reached the biggest stage as a teenager, becoming one of the youngest Olympic volleyball champions at just 16 in 1992. Cuba also captured the World Championship in 1994 and 1998 and multiple World Cups during her reign, built on athleticism and blocking that overwhelmed taller, more methodical European sides. Torres combined a devastating quick attack with the range to close blocks on both pins, redefining what a middle could do. For most of the 1990s Cuba lost almost nothing that mattered, and Torres was its defining figure - the standard against which every middle blocker since has been measured.
The case for Lorenzo Bernardi
The outstanding outside hitter of volleyball's professional dawn and the leader of Italy's golden generation. Bernardi drove the most dominant men's team of the 1990s to three straight World Championships - 1990, 1994 and 1998 - under coach Julio Velasco, alongside a haul of World League titles and European crowns. A complete wing spiker who could side-out under pressure, serve aggressively and defend, he was the emblem of an Italian side that beat everyone except, painfully, at the Olympics, where the team settled for silver in 1996. He spent his club career in Italy's Serie A, then the richest and strongest league in the world, sustaining elite form for the better part of two decades. Widely honoured among the greatest European players ever, Bernardi's near-total dominance in every arena but the Olympic final places him firmly among the sport's all-time elite, and he later coached at the highest club level.