Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

The International Volleyball Federation has one of the largest memberships in the Olympic movement as it unites 222 federations. Unlike most other federations, where teams are selected for the Olympic Games based on the results of the World Championships or Continental Championships, the International Volleyball Federation holds separate qualifying competitions for participation in future Olympic Games. The teams at the top of the world rankings participate in these qualifying competitions, and only then were further places decided via continental qualification. Thus, the International Federation selected only the 12 best teams from both men and women and made victory at the Olympics the most prestigious in volleyball (24 teams take part in the world championships). Qualifying tournaments ended in January 2020, even before the coronavirus pandemic began, and all teams found themselves in a level playing field with no competition.

A completely new venue, the Ariake Arena, was built specifically for the Olympic Volleyball Tournament in two and a half years, which, together with temporary stands, could accommodate up to 15,000 spectators. Unfortunately, the hall was practically empty during the games due to the pandemic, as entrance to the stadium was restricted to officials and team members only.

The competition regulations remained the same: 12 teams were divided into two groups of which the four best teams in each group advanced. COVID-19 played its own game with the participants; due to the lack of game practice, the groups turned out to be uneven in strength. So, for example, in the men’s tournament all the first four places were won by the teams that played in Group B and, in the women’s tournament, three teams from Group A.