Volleyball at the Olympics

Competitions in indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are part of the regular program of the Summer Olympics . Indoor volleyball tournaments have existed since 1964; Beach volleyball has been an Olympic sport since 1996 .

Indoor volleyball

history

The Brazilian men celebrate their 2016 Olympic victory

Volleyball first appeared at the Games in 1924 in Paris . There was a US demonstration of this sport there. However, volleyball was not included in the Olympic program until after the Second World War . During this time the world association FIVB and some continental associations were formed. In 1957, as part of the 53rd session of the IOC in Sofia , the volleyball players organized a tournament to promote themselves. The competition was successful. At the 1964 Games in Tokyo , volleyball was part of the Olympic program for the first time.

In the 1964 and 1968 tournaments, all qualified teams played in a "everyone against everyone" group. This mode is still practiced today at the World Cup . Since the medal winners in such a tournament could be determined before the last games, it was decided to change. Since 1972 the tournament has been divided into a preliminary round and a final round. This mode is also known as the "Olympic format".

The number of participating teams has risen steadily since the premiere. Since 1996, twelve nations have been playing for gold medals for both men and women. Each of the five continental associations is represented by at least one team at the Olympic Games.

Competitions

Japan versus South Korea in the 2012 women's bronze game in London

Volleyball competitions
competition	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	16	20th	Games
	Men women
Men	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	15th
Women	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	15th
Number of competitions	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

Medalist

Men

Games	gold	silver	bronze
1964 Tokyo	Soviet Union	Czechoslovakia	Japan
1968 Mexico City	Soviet Union	Japan	Czechoslovakia
1972 Munich	Japan	GDR	Soviet Union
1976 Montreal	Poland	Soviet Union	Cuba
1980 Moscow	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Romania
1984 Los Angeles	United States	Brazil	Italy
1988 Seoul	United States	Soviet Union	Argentina
1992 Barcelona	Brazil	Netherlands	United States
1996 Atlanta	Netherlands	Italy	BR Yugoslavia
2000 Sydney	BR Yugoslavia	Russia	Italy
2004 Athens	Brazil	Italy	Russia
2008 Beijing	United States	Brazil	Russia
2012 London	Russia	Brazil	Italy
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Italy	United States

Medal table
space	team	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	Russia 1	4th	3	3	10
2	Brazil	3	3	0	6th
3	United States	3	0	2	5
4th	Japan	1	1	1	3
5	Netherlands	1	1	0	2
6th	Serbia 2	1	0	1	2
7th	Poland	1	0	0	1
8th	Italy	0	3	3	6th
9	Czech Republic 3	0	1	1	2
10	Bulgaria	0	1	0	1
	Germany 4	0	1	0	1
12	Argentina	0	0	1	1
	Cuba	0	0	1	1
	Romania	0	0	1	1
1 1964 to 1988 Soviet Union 2 1964 to 1992 Yugoslavia , 1996 to 2000 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 3 1964 to 1992 Czechoslovakia 4 including the GDR , see also Olympic history of Germany

Women

Games	gold	silver	bronze
1964 Tokyo	Japan	Soviet Union	Poland
1968 Mexico City	Soviet Union	Japan	Poland
1972 Munich	Soviet Union	Japan	North Korea
1976 Montreal	Japan	Soviet Union	South Korea
1980 Moscow	Soviet Union	GDR	Bulgaria
1984 Los Angeles	People's Republic of China	United States	Japan
1988 Seoul	Soviet Union	Peru	People's Republic of China
1992 Barcelona	Cuba	United team	United States
1996 Atlanta	Cuba	People's Republic of China	Brazil
2000 Sydney	Cuba	Russia	Brazil
2004 Athens	People's Republic of China	Russia	Cuba
2008 Beijing	Brazil	United States	People's Republic of China
2012 London	Brazil	United States	Japan
2016 Rio de Janeiro	People's Republic of China	Serbia	United States

Medal table
space	team	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	Russia 1	4th	5	0	9
2	People's Republic of China	3	1	2	6th
3	Cuba	3	0	1	4th
4th	Japan	2	2	2	6th
5	Brazil	2	0	2	4th
6th	United States	0	3	2	5
7th	Germany 2	0	1	0	1
	Peru	0	1	0	1
	Serbia	0	1	0	1
10	Poland	0	0	2	2
11	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
	North Korea	0	0	1	1
	South Korea	0	0	1	1
1 1964 to 1988 Soviet Union , 1992 United Team 2 including the GDR , see also Olympic history of Germany

Placements

Men

In the first two tournaments, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Japan shared the medals. For Czechoslovakia it was the only two medals in Olympic volleyball. Japan, the host of the first volleyball tournament in Olympic history, rose from bronze to silver to gold medal, but then did not get past fourth place. The Soviets were always in the top three teams until their home game in 1980. When they did not take part because of the boycott in 1984, the United States won gold as host as it did four years later. Brazil was successful in 1992 and 2004. The other titles went to Italy and Yugoslavia / Serbia. In 2008, the USA won for the third time. In 2012 Russia prevailed against Brazil in the final. In 2016, Brazil beat Italy in the final at home.

From a German perspective, the GDR team ensured the greatest success. After finishing fourth in 1968, the East Germans won the silver medal in Munich in 1972. They also defeated the host. The Federal Republic took penultimate place at the tournament in its own country. 36 years later, another German team took part in the Olympic Games. In Beijing, the DVV selection finished ninth after being eliminated in the preliminary round. In 2012, the German team reached the quarter-finals and finished fifth.

	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016
Egypt						10				11		11		9
Algeria								12
Argentina						6th	B.		8th	4th	5		5	5
Australia										8th	11		9
Belgium		8th
Brazil	7th	9	8th	7th	5	S.	4th	G	5	6th	G	S.	S.	G
Bulgaria	5	6th	4th		S.		6th		7th			5	4th
People's Republic of China						8th						5
Germany 1			11									9	5
GDR		4th	S.
France							8th	11			9			9
Greece											5
Great Britain													11
Iran														5
Italy				8th	9	B.	9	5	S.	B.	S.	4th	B.	S.
Japan	B.	S.	G	4th		7th	10	6th				11
Canada				9		4th		10						5
Cuba			10	B.	8th			4th	6th	7th				11
Libya					10
Mexico		10												11
Netherlands	8th						5	S.	G	5	9
Poland		5	9	G	4th				11		5	5	5	5
Romania	4th		5		B.
Russia 2	G	G	B.	S.	G		S.	7th	4th	S.	B.	B.	G	4th
Sweden							7th
Serbia 3					6th				B.	G	5	5	9
Spain								8th		9
South Korea	10		7th	6th		5	11	9	9	9
Czech Republic 4	S.	B.	6th	5	7th
Tunisia			12			9	12		11		11		11
Hungary	6th
United States	9	7th				G	G	B.	9	11	4th	G	5	B.
Venezuela												9
G = gold, S = silver, B = bronze; Hosts marked in bold
1 1964 to 1988 Federal Republic of Germany 2 1964 to 1988 Soviet Union , 1992 United Team 3 1964 to 1992 Yugoslavia , 1996 to 2004 Serbia and Montenegro 4 1964 to 1992 Czechoslovakia

Women

Poland took third place in 1964 and 1968. In the early years of Olympic volleyball, Japan and the Soviet Union fought each other for the gold medals. Up to and including 1980, all titles went to these two nations. It was not until 1984 that China was able to end this winning streak in the absence of the defending champion. Four years later, however, the Olympic champion was again called the Soviet Union and another three silver medals followed. In eleven participations, the Soviet Union and Russia only missed the final once. In 1992, the successful series of Cuban women began. They became Olympic champions three times in a row and took third place in 2004. In Beijing in 2008, the Brazilian team was successful for the first time. Four years later, the Brazilians defended their title in the new edition of the final against the USA. In 2016 the Chinese won the gold medal again.

From the German point of view - as with the men - the GDR was responsible for the greatest success. In 1980 in Moscow, the East German women reached the final against the Soviet Union. In total, they took part in the Olympic Games three times. The Federal Republic of Germany took last place as hosts in 1972 and came sixth in 1984. After reunification, the German women qualified three times in a row from 1996 to 2004, but never made it past the quarter-finals.

1964

1968

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

2012

2016

Algeria

11

11

Argentina

9

Australia

9

Brazil

7th

7th

6th

4th

B.

B.

4th

G

G

5

Bulgaria

B.

People's Republic of China

G

B.

7th

S.

5

G

B.

5

G

Germany 1

8th

6th

8th

6th

9

GDR

6th

S.

5

Dominican Republic

11

5

Greece

9

Great Britain

9

Italy

9

5

5

5

9

Japan

G

S.

S.

G

B.

4th

5

9

5

5

B.

5

Cameroon

11

Canada

8th

8th

9

Kazakhstan

9

Kenya

11

11

Croatia

7th

Cuba

6th

5

5

G

G

G

B.

4th

Mexico

7th

Netherlands

6th

5

4th

North Korea

B.

Peru

4th

7th

6th

4th

S.

11

11

Poland

B.

B.

9

Puerto Rico

11

Romania

4th

8th

Russia 2

S.

G

G

S.

G

G

S.

4th

S.

S.

5

5

5

Serbia

5

11

S.

Spain

8th

South Korea

6th

5

4th

B.

5

8th

6th

8th

5

4th

5

Czech Republic 3

6th

7th

Turkey

9

Ukraine

11

Hungary

5

4th

4th

United States

5

8th

S.

7th

B.

7th

4th

5

S.

S.

B.

Venezuela

11

G = gold, S = silver, B = bronze; Hosts marked in bold

1 1964 to 1988 Federal Republic of Germany 2 1964 to 1988 Soviet Union , 1992 United Team 3 1964 to 1992 Czechoslovakia

beach volleyball

history

The German Olympic champions 2016: Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst

Was beach volleyball at the Games in 1992 in Barcelona demonstration sport. Four years later, at the 1996 Games in Atlanta , playing in the sand was part of the Olympic program for the first time. For the men and women, 24 teams each play for the gold medals. Every continental federation is represented and a maximum of two duos per nation can qualify in international tournaments.

Competitions

The German duo Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann against the Netherlands at the 2012 Olympic Games

Beach volleyball competitions
competition	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020	Games
	Men women
Men	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	7th
Women	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	7th
Number of competitions	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

Medalist

Men

Games	gold	silver	bronze
1996 Atlanta	Charles Kiraly / Kent Steffes	Michael Dodd / Mike Whitmarsh	John Child / Mark Heese
2000 Sydney	Dain Blanton / Eric Fonoimoana	Zé Marco / Ricardo Santos	Jörg Ahmann / Axel Hager
2004 Athens	Emanuel Rego / Ricardo Santos	Javier Bosma / Pablo Herrera Allepuz	Patrick Heuscher / Stefan Kobel
2008 Beijing	Todd Rogers / Phil Dalhausser	Márcio Araújo / Fabio Luiz	Emanuel Rego / Ricardo Santos
2012 London	Julius Brink / Jonas Reckermann	Emanuel Rego / Alison Cerutti	Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Jānis Šmēdiņš
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Alison Cerutti / Bruno Oscar Schmidt	Paolo Nicolai / Daniele Lupo	Alexander Brouwer / Robert Meeuwsen

Women

Games	gold	silver	bronze
1996 Atlanta	Sandra Pires / Jackie Silva	Mônica Rodrigues / Adriana Samuel	Natalie Cook / Kerri Pottharst
2000 Sydney	Natalie Cook / Kerri Pottharst	Adriana Behar / Shelda Bede	Sandra Pires / Adriana Samuel
2004 Athens	Kerri Walsh / Misty May-Treanor	Adriana Behar / Shelda Bede	Holly McPeak / Elaine Youngs
2008 Beijing	Kerri Walsh / Misty May-Treanor	Tian Jia / Wang Jie	Xue Chen / Zhang Xi
2012 London	Kerri Walsh / Misty May-Treanor	Jennifer Kessy / April Ross	Larissa França / Juliana da Silva
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Laura Ludwig / Kira Walkenhorst	Bárbara Seixas / Ágatha Bednarczuk	Kerri Walsh / April Ross

Web links

Indoor volleyball

Commons : Volleyball at the Olympics  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Volleyball at olympic.org (English)
• Volleyball on the official website Tokyo 2020 (English)
• Olympic qualifiers in 2020 in the FIVB: International Cups - Continental Tournaments (English)
• Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2020 (PDF, English)
• Olympic Games 2016 at the FIVB (English)

beach volleyball

Commons : Beach volleyball at the Olympics  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Beach volleyball at olympic.org (English)
• Olympic statistics of the FIVB (PDF, English)
• Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2020 (PDF, English)
• Olympic Games 2016 at the FIVB (English)