| Volleyball Olympic Tournament |
Article Index for Volleyball |
Website Links For Volleyball |
Information AboutVolleyball Olympic Tournament |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT VOLLEYBALL AT THE SUMMER OLYMPICS | |
| volleyball at the olympics | |
|
Volleyball has been contested as an indoor sport at the ''' Summer Olympic Games ''' since 1964 . Beach Volleyball was introduced at the 1996 Games . HISTORY Origins The history of Olympic volleyball can be traced back to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris , where volleyball was played as part of an American sports demonstration event. Consideration of its addition to the Olympic program, however, was given only after World War II , with the foundation of the FIVB and of some of the continental confederations. In 1957 , a special tournament was held at the 53rd IOC session in Sofia , Bulgaria to support such request. The competition was a success, and the sport was officially introduced in 1964 . The expression "Volleyball Olympic Tournament" is actually misleading. Properly speaking, volleyball events in the Olympic Games are not limited to indoor volleyball, but also include Beach Volleyball . Nevertheless, the usage had already been consolidated by the time this sport was added to the Olympic program ( 1996 ). To avoid confusion, beach volleyball events are often referred to as the "Beach Volleyball Olympic Tournament". The Volleyball Olympic Tournament was originally a simple competition, whose format paralleled the one still employed in the World Cup : all teams played against each other team and then were ranked by wins, set average and point average. One disadvantage of this round-robin system is that medal winners could be determined before the end of the games, making the audience lose interest in the outcome of the remaining matches. To cope with this situation, the competition was split into two phases: a "final round" was introduced, consisting of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Since its creation in 1972 , this new system has become the standard for the Volleyball Olympic Tournament, and is usually referred to as the "Olympic format". The number of teams involved in the games has grown steadily since 1964. Since 1996 , both men's and women's indoor events count 12 participant nations. Each of the five continental volleyball confederations has at least one affiliated national federation involved in the Olympic Games. Beach volleyball was a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics , and was introduced as an official Olympic event in 1996. 24 teams participate in the Beach Volleyball Olympic Tournament. Teams qualify on the basis of their performance in FIVB events over the course of approximately 18 months leading up to the Olympics. There is a limit of two teams per country, and one spot each is reserved for the host country and a randomly chosen wildcard country. In the event that any continent is not represented, the highest ranked team from that continent qualifies for the tournament. Men's Indoor Volleyball Olympic Tournament The first two editions of the Volleyball Olympic Tournament were won by the U.S.S.R. Third in 1964 and runner-up in 1968 , Japan won gold in 1972 . In 1976 , the introduction of a new offensive skill, the back row attack, helped Poland win the competition over the Soviets in a very tight five-setter. In 1980 , many of the strongest teams in men's volleyball belonged to the Eastern Bloc , so the American-led Boycott Of The 1980 Summer Olympics did not have as great an effect on these events as it had on the women's. The U.S.S.R. collected their third Olympic Gold Medal with a 3-1 victory over Bulgaria . With a now U.S.S.R. -led boycott in 1984 , U.S.A. confirmed their new volleyball leadership in the Western World by sweeping smoothly over Brazil at the finals. In that edition a minor nation, Italy , won its first medal, but wouldn't rise to prominence in volleyball for some years. A long-awaited confrontation between the western and eastern volleyball leaders came in and Steve Timmons pushed the U.S.A. to a second gold medal setting the issue in favor of the Americans. In 1992 , Brazil upset favorites C.I.S. , Netherlands , and Italy for a first Olympic Championship. Runner-up Netherlands , with Ron Zwerver and Olof Van Der Meulen , came back in the following edition for a five-set win, again over Italy . In spite in their success in other competitions, Italy did not fare well at the Olympics. After winning bronze in 1996 , Serbia And Montenegro , led by Vladimir and Nikola Grbic , beat Russia at the finals in 2000 to secure the gold (in 1996 and 2000 they played under the name Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia ). In 2004 , Brazil beat Italy in the final, adding a second gold medal to its record and confirming its role as a superpower of 2000s . Gold medals seem more evenly distributed in men's volleyball than in women's: former U.S.S.R. has three; U.S.A. and Brazil , two; the remaining four editions of the Volleyball Olympic Tournament were won each by a different country. The remaining main major force, Italy , is runner-up to U.S.S.R. in total number of medals, but still lacks a gold medal. Women's Indoor Volleyball Olympic Tournament The opening edition of the Volleyball Olympic Tournament, in 1964 , was won by Japan , the host nation. There followed two victories in a row by the U.S.S.R. , in 1968 and 1972 . Japan came back again in 1976 for one last Olympic gold before losing the status of volleyball superpower. The American-led Boycott of the 1980 Games left many strong volleyball nations like Japan and South Korea out of the games. As a result, the U.S.S.R. easily secured a third Olympic gold medal. In 1984 , the Eastern Bloc was, in its turn, boycotting the games, and once more many strong volleyball nations like the U.S.S.R. , East Germany and Cuba did not participate. In spite of this, and much to the distress of local fans, host nation U.S.A. lost the finals in straight sets to a communist nation, China . With eastern and western nations again involved in the Olympics, the U.S.S.R. obtained a remarkable victory over Peru after trailing 0-2 in 1988's finals. This was the most dramatic female match according to the official FIVB's first century tape. , the remnants of former U.S.S.R. went as far as the finals, but did not resist the power play of the young, rising Cuban squad. Led by superstars Mireya Luis and Regla Torres , Cuba would eventually set the record for consecutive wins in the Olympic Games by also taking the gold in 1996 and 2000 . In 2004 , the winner was once again China . Second was Russia who beat Brazil in a very tough semifinal match. The eleven editions of the Volleyball Olympic Tournament were won by only four different countries: U.S.S.R. , Cuba , China and Japan . Men's Beach Volleyball Olympic Tournament Women's Beach Volleyball Olympic Tournament COMPETITION FORMULA The Volleyball Olympic Tournament has a very stable competition formula. The following rules apply:
MEDAL SUMMARY Men's Indoor Volleyball Olympic Tournament Women's Indoor Volleyball Olympic Tournament Men's Beach Volleyball Olympic Tournament Women's Beach Volleyball Olympic Tournament MEDAL TABLE SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|