Past Olympics
Volleyball at the Olympics – a history
Origins
Volleyball was for the first time played in the Olympic Games in 1927, as part of an American sports demonstration event. Consideration of its addition to the Olympic programme, 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 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
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 programme (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".
No country has been truly dominant in volleyball, although the Soviet Union has won the most medals. Originally the Japanese had the world's best women players while the United States had the best men's team in the world throughout the 1980s. Volleyball made its Olympic Games debut in Tokyo in 1964, with the Soviet Union winning the men's gold medal and the Japanese women being crowned as champions in front of their home crowd. Since then, volleyball has continued to witness the rise and fall of great international teams, with countries as diverse as Cuba, Brazil, the Soviet Union, China, the United States, the Netherlands, Poland and Japan collecting gold medals. While power and height have become vital components of international teams, the ability of teams and coaches to devise new tactics, strategies and skills have been crucial for success at the Olympic Games.
The number of teams involved in the games has grown steadily since 1964. Since 1996, both men's and women's events count 12 participant nations. Each of the five continental volleyball confederations has at least one affiliated national federation involved in the Olympic Games.
The beach volleyball phenomenon, although hugely visible, is still just in its infancy. From the first FIVB World Tour event in 1996, to the overwhelming spectator and television success of 'Beach' at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, beach volleyball has opened up Volleyball to a completely new market. So far, the competition has been dominated by athletes from Brazil and the USA.
Competition - Indoor
Matches are played best of five sets. The first four sets are played to 25 points, with the final set being played to 15 points. A team must win a set by two points. There is no ceiling, so a set continues until one of the teams gains a two-point advantage.
Competition – Beach
Because of the many difficulties of playing outdoors, such as the sand, the sun and the wind, beach volleyball players must have outstanding ball skills and court speed. Partners must be well matched or opponents will win easy points by exploiting the weaker player.
In beach volleyball, matches are played best of three sets using the rally point system. The first two sets are played to 21 points, with the final tiie-breaker set being played to 15 points. A team must win a set by two points. There is no ceiling, so a set continues until one of the teams gains a two-point advantage.
Libero
Prior to Sydney 2000, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) introduced a new specialist role: the libero. This player wear a different coloured uniform from the rest of the team and can be substituted in backcourt for any player on the team. The libero cannot serve, spike the ball over the net or rotate into the front-line positions, but plays a vital role for the team in serve reception and backcourt defence. There must be at least one point played between libero substituting off for a player and going back on the court for another player – hence he/she cannot be on the court for the whole game. The libero added an extra dimension to backcourt defence during the Sydney 2000 Games, improving the reception of teams, lengthening the rallies and giving a vital role to shorter players.
Volleyball – Olympic Facts
First Olympics to officially include volleyball was in 1964 held in Tokyo, Japan
First Olympics to include beach volleyball was in 1996 held in Atlanta, USA
The UK has never won any medals in the Olympics for volleyball
Sydney 2000
There was a men’s and women’s volleyball event and a men’s and women’s beach volleyball event. In volleyball, 12 men’s teams of 12 players and 12 women’s teams of 11 players competed. In beach volleyball, 24 men’s and 24 women’s pairs competed.
Athens 2004
Volleyball at Athens 2004 Olympic Games featured the same competitions as Sydney 2000 (men’s and women’s volleyball and beach volleyball), with the same number of teams participating (12 men’s and 12 women’s volleyball teams with 24 men’s and 24 women’s teams for beach volleyball).
The only significant difference in formats was that the volleyball was played in one venue with 3 sessions per day. It was proposed that beach volleyball was played over 12 days (instead of 11) including one rest day, with two sessions per day. It was also proposed to run evening sessions under lights.
Medal summary
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's Beach: Ricardo Alex Santos and Emanuel Rego (BRA) / Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera (ESP) / Stefan Kobel and Patrick Heuscher (SUI)
Men's Volleyball: Brazil (BRA) Italy (ITA) Russia (RUS)
Women's Beach: Kerri Walsh and Misty May (USA) / Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar (BRA) / Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs (USA)
Women's Volleyball: China (CHN) Russia (RUS) Cuba (CUB)
Olympics - Beijing 2008
When: 8-24th August 2008
Where: Beijing, China.
Link: http://en.beijing2008.cn/
Events
4 sets of medals will be awarded in following events:
- Volleyball Men (12 teams)
- Volleyball Women (12 teams)
- Beach Volleyball Men (24 teams)
- Beach Volleyball Women (24 teams)
Qualification systems for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball
The qualification systems for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have been confirmed by the International Olympic Committee. For Volleyball, the qualification period will start with the FIVB World Cup, which will be held in Japan in November 2007, whereas the qualification period for Beach Volleyball will run from 1 January 2007.
For Volleyball, there are a total of 12 team vacancies for each gender. China is directly granted one vacancy for each gender as host nation. The first three vacancies available through qualification will be filled by the top three teams in each gender at the 2007 World Cup, which will take place from 2 November 2007 until 16 November 2007 (women) and 18 November 2007 to 2 December 2007 (men).
A further five vacancies will be filled by the winners of Continental Championships organised by each of the five FIVB Confederations (AVC, CAVB, CEV, CSV and NORCECA) over the period from 1 December 2007 to 15 January 2008. A minimum of four participating teams is required for such Continental Championships.
The remaining three vacancies for each gender will be decided by World Olympic Qualification tournaments (1 for women and 3 for men). These World Olympic Qualification tournaments, to be held before 8 June 2007, will also be used to fill any remaining continental vacancies in the event that one or more continents do not hold Continental Qualification tournaments.
For Beach Volleyball, the qualification period runs from 1 January 2007 to 20 July 2008 with 24 team vacancies available for each gender. By 21 July 2008, the FIVB will establish an Olympic Ranking based on the best eight performances of teams in recognised Olympic Qualification tournaments (SWATCH FIVB World Tour events, SWATCH FIVB World Championships, FIVB recognised Continental Championship Finals). Whilst China will automatically qualify as host nation, the top 23 teams from each gender will qualify for Beijing 2008, subject to a maximum of two teams per country. In order to respect the universality principle of the Olympic Games, if a continent does not have any teams qualified after the above procedure is applied, the 23rd place will be occupied by the highest-ranked eligible team from the continent in question.
