The Russian men prevailed against Brazil in the final and won the gold medal for the first time since the 1980 home game in Moscow . Italy finished third. The German team lost to fourth-placed Bulgarians in the quarter-finals and achieved the best result since the GDR silver medal in 1972 . Like four years before, the women's tournament saw the final between Brazil and the USA , which the defending champions from South America won again. Bronze went to Japan .
The mode was the same for women and men. The twelve qualified teams were divided into two preliminary round groups with six participants each. The division of the preliminary round groups was not drawn, but based on the serpentine method and the positions of the teams in the volleyball world rankings . Host Great Britain was set as the group head. The preliminary round was held according to the "everyone against everyone" mode. In the event of a tie, the number of wins, the set ratio and finally the ball point quotient decided the placement. The best four teams in the two groups reached the quarter-finals. Then the knockout system continued until the final.
Players from six nations were honored in the individual awards. The Brazilians had the most valuable player in their team despite losing the final, while the new Olympic champion Russia benefited from the best attacker. The German team was eliminated in the quarter-finals, but two DVV players were the best players in their categories.
With three players, the Olympic champion Brazil had the largest contingent in the individual awards. The final opponent USA had the best attacker in their ranks. The most valuable player of the tournament, however, did not win a medal with South Korea.
Twelve teams each competed for men and women. A squad with twelve players was nominated for each team. The roster was officially published by the FIVB on July 17th .
Great Britain was set to host. In addition, eleven men and women each qualified for the Olympic tournament, in which a total of 288 athletes took part. The first starting places were awarded at the end of 2011 at the World Cup in Japan . The top three teams of each gender qualified for London in this competition. The women's games were played from November 4 to 18, 2011. Italy won ahead of the US and China . In the men who then played from November 20 to December 4, Russia prevailed over Poland and Brazil .
In order to determine the other qualifiers, various continental and international tournaments have been held since the beginning of the year. The CAVB initially hosted the African qualification, in which the teams played off an Olympic participant in the "everyone against everyone" mode. The men competed in Yaoundé from January 16-21 ; it sat Tunisia through against four competitors. The Algerian women won the four-stage tournament from February 2-4 in Blida as hosts . The NORCECA association organized the tournament for women from North and Central America from April 29th to May 5th in Tijuana . The Dominican Republic won the final against Cuba . The men played in Long Beach from May 7th to May 12th . The defending Olympic champions USA prevailed against Canada with the home advantage . The South American qualifying tournaments of the CSV took place from May 9th to 13th in São Carlos (women) and May 11th to 13th in Almirante Brown (men). The Brazilian women won the final against Peru . The men played “everyone against everyone” and Argentina stayed without losing a set. At the European qualification tournament of the CEV from May 1st to 6th in Ankara, the German women were eliminated in the semifinals against Poland . Host Turkey qualified by beating Russia in the final . The men of the DVV reached the final of the tournament from May 8th to 13th in Sofia , but lost to the Italians 2: 3.
The last chance for the women’s teams that had not yet qualified was an international tournament, which was held in Tokyo from May 19 to 27 and was also considered an Asian qualification. Therefore, in addition to the top three teams in the tournament, the best AVC team also received a starting place in London. Russia , South Korea and Serbia took the first three places and Japan moved up as the Asian representative. For the men there was a similar tournament from June 1st to 10th at the same place. Serbia managed to qualify with just one lost set, while the second-placed Australians came out on top as the best Asian team. Two other tournaments took place from June 8th to 10th in Berlin and Sofia . The German men won all three games in the Max-Schmeling-Halle against India , vice world champions Cuba and the Czech Republic and thus reached the Olympic tournament for the second time in a row. The Bulgarians also used their home advantage and secured the last place on the grid.
^ Algeria clinch ticket to London Olympic Games. (No longer available online.) CAVB, February 4, 2012, formerly in the original ; accessed on May 7, 2012 (English). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.cavb.org
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Bulgaria
Poland
Argentina
Italy
Australia
Great Britain
United States
Brazil
Russia
Germany
Serbia
Tunisia
Japan
Dominican Rep.
Algeria
People's Republic of China
South Korea
Turkey
Egypt
Cameroon
Ghana
Kenya
Seychelles
Croatia
Netherlands
Spain
Slovenia
Slovakia
Finland
Puerto Rico
Canada
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Honduras
Cuba
Mexico
Costa Rica
Trinidad and Tobago
Colombia
Uruguay
Peru
Venezuela
Chile
Thailand
Taiwan
Iran
Czech Republic
India
France
Pakistan
