Volleyball at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

Women's volleyball at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Venue	University of Georgia Coliseum Omni Coliseum
Date	20 July – 3 August
Competitors	144 from 12 nations
Medalists
Cuba (2nd title)   China   Brazil
←  1992 2000  →

The 1996 women's Olympic volleyball tournament was the ninth edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee. It was held from 20 July to 3 August 1996 at the Stegeman Coliseum of The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia and at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia. ^[1]

This was the last Olympic tournament to use side-out scoring, where a team could only score on its own serve. Rally scoring, which awards a point on every play regardless of serving team, was introduced for the 2000 Games.

Qualification

Qualifiers	Date	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host Country	18 September 1990	Tokyo	1	United States
1995 Women's World Cup	3–17 November 1995	Japan	3	Cuba
				Brazil
				China
European Qualification			1	Germany
North American Qualification			1	Canada
South American Qualification			1	Peru
Asian Qualification			1	South Korea
African Qualification [2]			1	Russia
1996 Olympic Qualification Tournament	26 May −2 June 1996	Tokyo, Japan	3	Netherlands
				Japan
				Ukraine
Total			12

Format

The tournament was played in two different stages. In the Preliminary round (first stage), the twelve participants were divided into two pools of six teams. A single round-robin format was played within each pool to determine the teams position in the pool. The four highest ranked teams in each pool advanced to the Final round (second stage) and the two lowest ranked teams took no further participation (with pool places 5th and 6th being ranked in the final standings as joined 9th ad 11th, respectively).

The Final round was played in a single elimination format, with placement matches determining the top eight positions. Starting at the quarterfinals, winners advanced to the semifinals while losers advanced to the placement matches (5th–8th semifinal).

Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their ranking as of January 1996. ^[3]

Pool A	Pool B
United States (hosts)	Cuba (1st)
Japan (4th)	Brazil (2nd)
China (5th)	Russia (7th)
South Korea (6th)	Germany (8th)
Netherlands	Peru
Ukraine	Canada

Rosters

Main article: Volleyball at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's team rosters

Venues

• University of Georgia Coliseum, Athens, United States
• Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, United States

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	China	5	5	0	10	15	3	5.000	256	181	1.414	Quarterfinals
2	United States	5	4	1	9	13	5	2.600	241	198	1.217
3	Netherlands	5	3	2	8	10	7	1.429	211	179	1.179
4	South Korea	5	2	3	7	10	9	1.111	249	222	1.122
5	Japan	5	1	4	6	3	12	0.250	158	199	0.794
6	Ukraine	5	0	5	5	0	15	0.000	89	225	0.396

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
20 Jul	Netherlands	0–3	China	10–15	5–15	7–15			22–45	Report
20 Jul	Japan	0–3	South Korea	10–15	12–15	10–15			32–45	Report
20 Jul	United States	3–0	Ukraine	15–8	15–5	15–11			45–24	Report
22 Jul	China	3–2	South Korea	17–16	16–14	2–15	13–15	15–13	63–73	Report
22 Jul	Ukraine	0–3	Japan	9–15	5–15	4–15			18–45	Report
22 Jul	Netherlands	1–3	United States	15–12	10–15	15–17	7–15		47–59	Report
24 Jul	Japan	0–3	Netherlands	3–15	10–15	3–15			16–45	Report
24 Jul	United States	1–3	China	8–15	2–15	15–12	12–15		37–57	Report
24 Jul	South Korea	3–0	Ukraine	15–3	15–10	15–7			45–20	Report
26 Jul	Netherlands	3–1	South Korea	15–11	15–12	7–15	15–8		52–46	Report
26 Jul	China	3–0	Ukraine	15–4	15–4	15–6			45–14	Report
26 Jul	United States	3–0	Japan	15–11	15–7	15–12			45–30	Report
28 Jul	Japan	0–3	China	14–16	11–15	10–15			35–46	Report
28 Jul	South Korea	1–3	United States	15–10	13–15	9–15	3–15		40–55	Report
28 Jul	Ukraine	0–3	Netherlands	3–15	5–15	5–15			13–45	Report

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Brazil	5	5	0	10	15	1	15.000	238	121	1.967	Quarterfinals
2	Russia	5	4	1	9	12	4	3.000	217	140	1.550
3	Cuba	5	3	2	8	10	6	1.667	196	156	1.256
4	Germany	5	2	3	7	7	9	0.778	163	191	0.853
5	Canada	5	1	4	6	3	14	0.214	156	239	0.653
6	Peru	5	0	5	5	2	15	0.133	129	252	0.512

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
20 Jul	Russia	3–0	Germany	15–5	15–10	15–7			45–22	Report
20 Jul	Canada	0–3	Cuba	8–15	8–15	5–15			21–45	Report
20 Jul	Brazil	3–0	Peru	15–7	15–1	15–5			45–13	Report
22 Jul	Russia	3–0	Canada	15–1	15–7	15–9			45–17	Report
22 Jul	Germany	3–0	Peru	15–11	15–6	15–3			45–20	Report
22 Jul	Cuba	0–3	Brazil	11–15	10–15	4–15			25–45	Report
24 Jul	Canada	0–3	Germany	5–15	12–15	6–15			23–45	Report
24 Jul	Brazil	3–0	Russia	15–3	15–11	15–13			45–27	Report
24 Jul	Peru	0–3	Cuba	2–15	5–15	10–15			17–45	Report
26 Jul	Russia	3–0	Peru	15–11	15–8	15–1			45–20	Report
26 Jul	Germany	0–3	Cuba	6–15	8–15	4–15			18–45	Report
26 Jul	Canada	0–3	Brazil	6–15	6–15	11–15			23–45	Report
28 Jul	Brazil	3–1	Germany	15–4	13–15	15–6	15–8		58–33	Report
28 Jul	Cuba	1–3	Russia	15–10	6–15	7–15	8–15		36–55	Report
28 Jul	Peru	2–3	Canada	17–16	6–15	15–11	9–15	12–15	59–72	Report

Final round

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Finsl
	30 July
	China	3
					1 August
	Germany	0
					China	3
	30 July
					Russia	1
	Netherlands	1
									3 August
	Russia	3
									China	1
	30 July
									Cuba	3
	United States	0
					1 August
	Cuba	3
					Cuba	3
	30 July
					Brazil	2			Third place
	South Korea	0
									3 August
	Brazil	3
									Russia	2
									Brazil	3

	5–8th place				5th place
	31 July
	Germany	2
					1 August
	Netherlands	3
					Netherlands	3
	31 July
					South Korea	0
	United States	0
	South Korea	3
					7th place
					1 August
					Germany	1
					United States	3

Quarterfinals

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
30 Jul	China	3–0	Germany	15–12	15–8	15–8			45–28	Report
30 Jul	Netherlands	1–3	Russia	15–10	7–15	9–15	10–15		41–55	Report
30 Jul	United States	0–3	Cuba	1–15	10–15	12–15			23–45	Report
30 Jul	South Korea	0–3	Brazil	4–15	2–15	10–15			16–45	Report

5th–8th places

Semifinals

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
31 Jul	Germany	2–3	Netherlands	12–15	15–9	15–13	9–15	10–15	61–67	Report
31 Jul	United States	0–3	South Korea	12–15	5–15	11–15			28–45	Report

7th place match

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
1 Aug	Germany	1–3	United States	16–17	6–15	15–5	6–15		43–52	Report

5th place match

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
1 Aug	Netherlands	3–0	South Korea	15–9	15–9	15–13			45–31	Report

1st–4th places

Semifinals

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
1 Aug	China	3–1	Russia	12–15	15–5	15–8	15–12		57–40	Report
1 Aug	Cuba	3–2	Brazil	5–15	15–8	10–15	15–13	15–12	60–63	Report

Bronze medal match

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Aug	Russia	2–3	Brazil	13–15	15–4	14–16	15–8	13–15	70–58	Report

Gold medal match

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Aug	China	1–3	Cuba	16–14	12–15	16–17	6–15		50–61	Report

Final standings

Place Team   Cuba   China   Brazil 4   Russia 5   Netherlands 6   South Korea 7   United States 8   Germany 9   Japan 10   Canada 11   Peru 12   Ukraine

1996 Women's Olympic champions  Cuba 2nd title 12-woman roster Yumilka Ruiz, Marlenis Costa, Mireya Luis, Lilia Izquierdo, Idalmis Gato, Raisa O'Farril, Regla Bell, Regla Torres, Taismary Agüero, Ana Fernández, Magalys Carvajal, Mirka Francia Head coach Eugenio George

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Cuba  (CUB) Yumilka Ruiz Marlenis Costa Mireya Luis Lilia Izquierdo Idalmis Gato Raisa O'Farril Regla Bell Regla Torres Taismary Agüero Ana Fernández Magalys Carvajal Mirka Francia Head coach: Eugenio George	China  (CHN) Lai Yawen (c) Li Yan Cui Yongmei Zhu Yunying Wu Yongmei Wang Yi He Qi Pan Wenli Liu Xiaoning Wang Ziling Sun Yue Wang Lina Head coach: Lang Ping	Brazil  (BRA) Ana Moser Ana Ida Alvares Ana Paula Connelly Leila Barros Hilma Caldeira Virna Dias Márcia Cunha Ericleia Bodziak Ana Flávia Sanglard Fernanda Venturini Hélia Souza Sandra Suruagy Head coach: Bernardinho

Individual awards

• Most valuable player

    Cintha Boersma  (NED)

• Best spiker

    Cui Yongmei  (CHN)

• Best blocker

    Magaly Carvajal  (CUB)

• Best server

    Henriëtte Weersing  (NED)

• Best digger

    Ikumi Narita  (JPN)

• Best setter

    Riëtte Fledderus  (NED)

• Best receiver

    Lai Yawen  (CHN)

See also

• Men's Olympic Tournament

References

1. "Volleyball at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games: Women's Volleyball". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
2. Russia was transferred to play in this zone. No more African teams were interested to play. Initial host had to be Egypt. They withdrew due to lack of funds. Nigeria had to play in the Intercontinental Qualifications in Japan Olympics Women OQ 1996. Withdrew and was replaced by Romania. The 2 African teams played after a protest at the inclusion in the Africa zone of Russia. https://web.archive.org/web/20150628215914/http://www.todor66.com/volleyball/Africa/Women_OQ_1996.html
3. FIVB (January 1996). "FIVB World Rankings – Women".

External links

• Results
• Final standings (1964–2000) at FIVB.org
• Official results (pgs. 376, 405–416)