Myriam Fatime Sylla is a professional Italian

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. She plays outside hitter for both the Italian Women's National Volleyball Team, and the Italian volleyball club, Vero Volley Milano in the A1 division of the Lega Volley Femminile. She competed at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

in Baku, the

2015 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix The 2015 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was the 23rd edition of the annual women's international volleyball tournament played by 28 countries from 26 June to 2 August 2015. This was the first time that the Group 1 final round was held in Omaha ...

, the

2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix The 2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was the 25th edition of the annual women's international volleyball tournament played by 32 teams between 7 July and 6 August. The Group 1 Final Round was held in Nanjing, China. Defending champions Brazi ...

, and the

2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League The 2018 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League was the inaugural edition of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League, a new annual international women's volleyball tournament contested by 16 national teams that replaced the former FIVB Volleyba ...

. She was also part of the 2024 Italian Volleyball Olympic Team for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, where Italy took home the gold medal.

Club and National Team career

Sylla has played for Progetto Volley Orago (2010–2011), MC-Carnaghi Villa Cortese (2012–2013),

Volley Bergamo Volley Bergamo is an Italian women's volleyball club based in Bergamo and currently playing in the Serie A1. Previous names Due to sponsorship, the club have competed under the following names: * Volley Bergamo (1991–1992) * Foppapedretti Ber ...

(2013–2018),

Imoco Volley Imoco Volley is an Italian professional women's volleyball club based in Conegliano in Northern Italy and currently playing in the Serie A1. On the global stage, the team is a world champion (current) winning the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club Wor ...

(2018–2022), and Vero Volley Milano (2022–present). Sylla made her Serie A1 debut with MC-Carnaghi Villa Cortese, before signing with Volley Bergamo in 2013. She has also been a part of the Italian Women's National Volleyball Team since 2015.

Personal life

Sylla's parents migrated to Italy in the early 1990's, and she was born in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, Italy, on January 8th, 1995 to Ivorian parents Abdoulaye and Salimata Sylla. However, due to economic struggles, they soon moved to

Valgreghentino Valgreghentino ( Brianzöö: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about south of Lecco. Valgreghentino borders the following municipalities: Airuno, Colle ...

, in the

province of Lecco The province of Lecco (; Lecchese: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecco. As of 2017, the province had a population of 337,211 on a surface of divided into 85 ''comuni'' (: ''com ...

Start in Volleyball

Now living in Lecco, at 12 years old, Sylla accompanied her cousin to a volleyball tryout for fun, but was selected to be on the team immediately. Although born in Italy, Sylla didn't have an Italian passport. This meant she could not compete for the Italian youth or senior national team. However, this changed when Sylla was 16 years old. Sylla and her entire family acquired Italian passports, opening the door for Myriam to play with the Italian Youth National Volleyball Team.

Other ventures

In 2019, Sylla published her first book, '' Tutta la Forza Che ho'' (English: With all the Strength I Have) which details the difficulties Myriam has faced to get to where she is today. Additionally, in April of 2024, she released the first two volumes of the '' Dream Volley'' series'','' with co-author Annalisa Strada. There are a total of five volumes released thus far; ''Forza, Vola... Vai!'' (Vol. 1, 9 April 2024), ''Una Squadra da Salvare'' (Vol. 2, 9 April 2024), ''In Transferta!'' (Vol. 3, 1 October 2024), ''La Grande Occasione'' (Vol. 4, 5 November 2024), and ''Il Nuovo Allenatore'' (Vol. 5, 5 February 2025).

Awards

Individuals

* '' 2018 FIVB World Championship "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2019 European Championship "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2021 European Championship "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2022 FIVB World Championship "Best outside spiker"'' * 2022/2023 Lega Volley Femminile "Best outside hitter" * '' 2024 FIVB Nations League "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2024 Olympic Games Paris "Best outside spiker"''

Clubs

* 2015-16 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) – Simple cup icon

Champions, with

* 2018 Italian Supercup – Simple cup icon

Champions, with

Imoco Volley Conegliano Imoco Volley is an Italian professional women's volleyball club based in Conegliano in Northern Italy and currently playing in the Italian Women's Volleyball League, Serie A1. On the global stage, the team is a world champion (current) winning th ...

* 2018–19 Italian League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with

2018–19 CEV Champions League The 2018–19 CEV Champions League was the 60th edition of the highest level European volleyball club competition organised by the European Volleyball Confederation. Qualification Pools composition Drawing of Lots was held on 25 October 2019 ...

–

Runner-Up, with

* 2019 Italian Supercup – Simple cup icon

Champions, with

2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship The 2019 FIVB Women's Club World Championship was the 13th edition of the tournament. For the second straight time it was held in Shaoxing, China from 3 to 8 December. Eight teams competed in the tournament, including four wild cards. Qualificat ...

–

Champion, with

* 2019-20 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) – Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2020 Italian Supercup – Simple cup icon

Champions, with

* 2020-21 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) – Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2020–21 Italian League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2020–21

CEV Women's Champions League The Women's CEV Champions League, formerly known as CEV Champions Cup (from 1960 to 2000), is the top official competition for women's volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. It is organized by the Confédération Européenne de V ...

–

Champion, with

* 2021 Italian Supercup – Simple cup icon

Champions, with

* 2021-22 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) – Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2021–22 Italian League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sylla, Myriam 1995 births Living people Italian women's volleyball players Place of birth missing (living people) European Games competitors for Italy Volleyball players at the 2015 European Games Volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Italy Italian people of Ivorian descent Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Palermo Opposite hitters Sportspeople from the Province of Lecco Wing spikers Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Volleyball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic medalists in volleyball 21st-century Italian sportswomen