The History of Olypmic Volleyball

Since being created at a YMCA in Massachusetts in 1892, volleyball has enjoyed global popularity and is played on every continent in the world. Surprisingly, the Olympic history of the sport is still relatively young. However, in that short span, Olympic volleyball has created rivalries, spawned dominant squads and even introduced a spin-off of its own to the Games.

  1. Debut

    • Despite being played competitively since the 1890s, volleyball was not added to the Olympics until the Tokyo Games of 1964. Even though the game was invented in the United States, the Americans did not fare well in the first Olympic tournament. At the time, the women's game was dominated by the group from Japan, which at one point won 157 consecutive matches.

      The men's side featured a definite European flavor. Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union each finished the tournament with an 8-1 record with the USSR defeating the Czechs in their only head-to-head meeting. In the end, the Soviets were awarded the gold medal based on a better ratio in the points for/against category.

    USSR v. Japan

    • In the early days of Olympic volleyball, the Soviet Union and Japan built a heated rivalry on both the men's and women's sides. In women's volleyball, the two countries alternated winning gold and silver in the first four Olympic tournaments. The men's side of the ledger showed a similar trend. While the Russians took home gold in the first two tourneys, the Japanese were steadily building a quality team--going from bronze in 1964 to silver in 1968 to finally capturing gold in 1972.

    Rise of the U.S.

    • Even though volleyball as a sport began in America, it was some time before the United States was a factor in an Olympic tournament. After miserable finishes in 1964 (fifth place for the women, ninth place for the men), the U.S. volleyball program finally found traction in the 1984 Los Angeles games. On their home turf, the Americans medaled for the first time with the women coming up just short against a good Chinese team to win silver while the men overcame a powerful Brazilian squad to earn the gold. The men would defend their title four years later in Seoul by defeating the Soviets.

    Dominant Teams

    • While the Russians and Japanese were the teams to beat in the beginning of Olympic volleyball, as the sport has grown and evolved, other countries have come to the forefront. The Chinese women burst on the scene in 1984, defeating the United States to win the gold. In the six Olympic tournaments since, China has won a medal four times. The Cuban women were an equally powerful force, stringing together three straight gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000.

      In men's volleyball, the Russians have dominated in just about every era. In the seven tournaments played from 1964 to 1988, the Soviets took home six medals (they boycotted the Games in 1984). Even after the country's dissolution in the late 1980s, the republic of Russia still enjoyed Olympic success, winning silver in 2000 and bronze in 2004 and 2008.

    Beach Volleyball

    • In 1992, the Olympic Games were played in Barcelona, and beach volleyball debuted as a demonstration sport in Almeria, Spain. More than 100 players representing five continents participated in the tournament.
      The Atlanta Games of 1996 saw the first official Olympic beach volleyball tournament. Qualification for the tournament was based on the year's final FIVB beach volleyball rankings, which included approximately 600 athletes in 42 different countries. In the end 24 men's teams and 18 women's teams would compete for the gold medal. In the end, Americans would dominate the men's side - winning gold and silver while narrowly missing bronze to Canada. For the women, Brazil took home gold and silver with Australia capturing bronze. Several months later, in November, the IOC confirmed that beach volleyball would be included in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.