Giovane Gávio

Giovane Farinazzo Gavio (born 7 September 1970), known as Giovane, is a Brazilian retired volleyball coach and former player who was a member of the Brazil men's national volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona by defeating the Netherlands (3-0) in the final.

Playing as an outside hitter, Gavio competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992.

In 2021, Gavio was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Coaching career Gavio retired as a player in 2005 and began coaching in 2009 at SESI São Paulo, where he won two São Paulo Cups (2009 and 2010), two São Paulo state championships (2009 and 2012), and the Superliga title in the 2010–11 season. He also served as head coach of the Brazilian under-21 (2016; 2019–2021) and under-23 (2017–2018) national teams, winning the 2022 South American Under-21 Championship. The club reached Superliga B in its first season and was promoted to Superliga A for 2023–24. Under his presidency, the club also runs Novos Ventos, a social project using mini-volleyball to reach children and teenagers aged 8 to 15 from public schools in Joinville, launched in February 2024 and expanded to Itapoá in 2025.

Gavio is also the founder of the Instituto Giovane Gávio, a non-profit organisation established in April 2000 that uses sport as a tool for education and social inclusion; he is no longer its executive president, a role held by another leader since 2024. The institute supports the Vôlei do Futuro project, with free volleyball classes for children in Rio de Janeiro and Vitória, and, in Brasília, the Vôlei BSB TEC project, which combines a men's youth team with professional and technology training.

Speaking career Since retiring as an athlete, Gavio has worked as a corporate speaker, addressing themes such as leadership, purpose, daily excellence, innovation, growth mindset, business management and discipline, drawing on his sports career; his talks are often framed around the twelve years between his Olympic gold medals in Barcelona 1992 and Athens 2004. He is also a certified coach through the Sociedade Brasileira de Coaching.

Individual awards 1989 FIVB World Cup "Best Blocker" 1993 FIVB World League "Most Valuable Player" 2003 FIVB World Cup "Best Spiker"