| | Event type

Beach Volleyball, Women

Date	27 July – 9 August 2024
Status	Olympic
Location	Eiffel Tower Stadium (Champ de Mars), Paris, France
Participants	48 from 17 countries
Format	Top 16 teams from round-robin pools advanced to the single-elimination tournament.

Twenty-four teams, consisting of 48 athletes from 17 NOCs, competed in the event, although the Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman were not present and did not defend their gold medal.

The 17 highest-ranked eligible women’s pairs secured a direct spot for Paris 2024 based on the FIVB Olympic ranking points accrued in the 12 best performances from 1 January 2023 to 9 June 2024. The top five ranked teams were as follows: #1 – Brazil – Duda Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos, the 2023 World silver medalists; #2 – the USA – Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, the 2023 World bronze medalists; #3 – the other American team, Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng, the 2023 World Champions; #4 – Canada with Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (Humana-Paredes previously competed with Sarah Pavan, notably winning the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships and two Commonwealth Games titles in 2018 and 2022); and #5 – the second Brazilian team – Carol Solberg and Bárbara Seixas. In 2015, Seixas and her partner Ágatha Rippel had won gold at the 2015 World Championships. All these five top ranked teams, plus the French team of Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard, were top seeded in the draw of the six pools.

In the preliminary round, there was only one big surprise to report, as the top-seeded Canadian team of Melissa and Brandie lost 2 of their 3 matches and only qualified for the Round of 16 after winning their lucky loser match against the Czechs Barbora Hermannová and Marie-Sára Štochlová. The top seeded French team of Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard ranked third in pool F after 1 win and 2 losses, but were later defeated in the lucky loser match by the Japanese team of Akiko Hasegawa and Miki Ishii.

The Brazilians Duda and Ana Patrícia lost only two sets, one in the semi-finals against Australia, and the other in the final against the Melissa and Brandie duo, defeating them 26–24, 12–21, 15–10, for the gold medal. The Swiss team of Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart-Brunner won the bronze medal by defeating the Australians Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	GP	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio	Service Attempts	Service In-Play	Service Faults	Service Aces	Fastest Serve	Attack Attempts	Attack Successes	Attack Errors	Attack In-Play	Block Successes	Opponent Errors	Dig Successes
1	Brazil 1	BRA	7	7	0	14	14-2	7.000	319-246	1.296	310	281	15	14	---	344	208	39	97	23	74	101	Gold
	Duda Lisboa		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	163	146	11	6	70	162	101	15	46	1	---	70
	Ana Patrícia Ramos		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	147	135	4	8	59	182	107	24	51	22	---	31
2	Canada 2	CAN	8	5	3	13	12-8	1.500	358-326	1.098	354	299	28	27	---	429	217	59	153	27	87	119	Silver
	Melissa Humana-Paredes		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	185	160	7	18	62	235	104	34	97	0	---	96
	Brandie Wilkerson		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	169	139	21	9	73	194	113	25	56	27	---	22
3	Switzerland 2	SUI	7	6	1	13	13-2	6.500	307-231	1.329	298	222	34	42	---	310	174	40	96	24	67	93	Bronze
	Nina Betschart-Brunner		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	169	126	16	27	65	162	86	16	60	0	---	80
	Tanja Hüberli		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	129	96	18	15	61	148	88	24	36	24	---	13
4	Australia	AUS	7	4	3	11	9-8	1.125	304-309	0.983	307	229	45	33	---	367	192	49	126	10	69	96
	Mariafe Artacho		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	142	123	9	10	62	155	76	18	61	0	---	63
	Taliqua Clancy		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	165	106	36	23	71	212	116	31	65	10	---	26
=5	Spain 2	ESP	5	3	2	8	7-5	1.400	205-199	1.030	205	173	21	11	---	257	129	29	99	8	57	77
	Daniela Álvarez		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	99	87	7	5	59	91	48	10	33	7	---	23
	Tania Moreno		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	106	86	14	6	62	166	81	19	66	1	---	48
=5	Latvia	LAT	5	3	2	8	6-5	1.200	196-202	0.970	194	159	20	15	---	233	120	28	85	19	42	64
	Tīna Graudiņa		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	88	72	10	6	59	135	74	16	45	18	---	11
	Anastasija Kravčenoka-Samoilova		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	106	87	10	9	73	98	46	12	40	1	---	40
=5	Switzerland 1	SUI	5	4	1	9	9-3	3.000	249-229	1.087	252	196	32	24	---	267	152	41	74	9	64	59
	Esmée Böbner		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	119	86	21	12	66	135	76	25	34	9	---	15
	Zoé Vergé-Dépré		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	133	110	11	12	62	132	76	16	40	0	---	42
=5	United States 2	USA	5	4	1	9	8-3	2.666	218-193	1.129	216	179	22	15	---	238	126	33	79	9	68	66
	Kelly Claes-Cheng		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	104	83	13	8	61	134	79	19	36	9	---	12
	Sara Hughes		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	112	96	9	7	57	104	47	14	43	0	---	55
=9	Brazil 2	BRA	4	3	1	7	6-3	2.000	176-158	1.113	172	152	11	9	---	195	106	23	66	13	48	64
	Carol Solberg		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	86	74	6	6	70	84	50	10	24	13	---	19
	Bárbara Seixas		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	86	78	5	3	64	111	56	13	42	0	---	42
=9	People's Republic of China	CHN	4	1	3	5	3-6	0.500	190-187	1.016	189	154	18	15	---	214	119	19	76	8	46	47
	Xia Xinyi		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	94	76	11	6	71	114	66	12	36	0	---	29
	Xue Chen		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	95	78	7	9	60	100	53	7	40	8	---	18
=9	Spain 1	ESP	4	2	2	6	4-5	0.800	153-175	0.874	157	128	14	15	---	185	86	28	71	10	42	46
	Liliana Fernández		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	78	64	6	8	61	113	51	22	40	10	---	7
	Paula Soria		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	79	64	8	7	63	72	35	6	31	0	---	29
=9	Germany 2	GER	4	2	2	6	5-4	1.250	170-150	1.133	170	133	24	13	---	187	117	26	44	12	28	51
	Svenja Müller		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	77	56	15	6	60	114	70	17	27	12	---	5
	Cinja Tillmann		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	93	77	9	7	60	73	47	9	17	0	---	43
=9	Italy	ITA	4	1	3	5	4-6	0.666	177-170	1.041	178	139	21	18	---	197	102	33	62	13	44	50
	Valentina Gottardi		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	77	46	18	13	70	70	39	15	16	13	---	7
	Marta Menegatti		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	101	93	3	5	56	127	63	18	46	0	---	36
=9	Japan	JPN	5	2	3	7	4-6	0.666	176-175	1.005	181	154	14	13	---	235	108	29	98	9	46	82
	Akiko Hasegawa		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	90	82	4	4	57	150	67	20	63	3	---	34
	Miki Ishii		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	91	72	10	9	58	85	41	9	35	6	---	30
=9	Netherlands	NED	4	2	2	6	6-4	1.500	192-176	1.090	187	155	19	13	---	234	126	29	79	8	45	73
	Raïsa Schoon		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	100	85	8	7	59	115	49	15	51	0	---	59
	Katja Stam		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	87	70	11	6	68	119	77	14	28	8	---	22
=9	United States 1	USA	4	3	1	7	6-2	3.000	172-154	1.116	170	156	9	5	---	205	107	29	69	9	51	62
	Taryn Kloth		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	82	79	3	0	67	97	54	16	27	9	---	10
	Kristen Nuss		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	88	77	6	5	57	108	53	13	42	0	---	55
=17	Czechia	CZE	4	1	3	5	2-7	0.285	134-169	0.792	137	115	13	9	---	189	79	32	78	9	37	65
	Barbora Hermannová		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	67	58	5	4	58	108	40	21	47	4	---	20
	Marie-Sára Štochlová		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	70	57	8	5	63	81	39	11	31	5	---	20
=17	France 2	FRA	4	1	3	5	2-6	0.333	122-160	0.762	123	107	10	6	---	186	84	43	59	4	28	49
	Lézana Placette		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	58	51	3	4	61	66	30	18	18	0	---	27
	Alexia Richard		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	65	56	7	2	59	120	54	25	41	4	---	9
=19	Canada 1	CAN	3	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	91-126	0.722	95	74	16	5	---	119	53	31	35	5	28	27
	Heather Bansley		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	54	44	7	3	75	68	31	15	22	0	---	18
	Sophie Bukovec		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	41	30	9	2	73	51	22	16	13	5	---	0
=19	Egypt	EGY	3	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	91-126	0.722	94	74	12	8	---	115	50	21	44	1	32	32
	Marwa Abdelhady		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	43	32	7	4	59	32	12	5	15	1	---	4
	Doaa El-Ghobashy		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	51	42	5	4	60	83	38	16	29	0	---	12
=19	France 1	FRA	3	0	3	3	1-6	0.166	106-140	0.757	107	90	12	5	---	150	66	23	61	4	31	40
	Aline Chamereau		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	56	47	5	4	65	47	27	7	13	4	---	5
	Clémence Vieira		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	51	43	7	1	59	103	39	16	48	0	---	24
=19	Germany 1	GER	3	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	93-127	0.732	96	76	14	6	---	131	53	30	48	5	29	38
	Louisa Lippmann		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	47	35	7	5	63	52	22	9	21	5	---	3
	Laura Ludwig		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	49	41	7	1	60	79	31	21	27	0	---	23
=19	Lithuania	LTU	3	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	79-126	0.626	85	64	16	5	---	127	46	27	54	4	24	40
	Monika Paulikienė		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	46	33	10	3	71	84	27	18	39	0	---	12
	Ainė Raupelyté		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	39	31	6	2	54	43	19	9	15	4	---	4
=19	Paraguay	PAR	3	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	116-140	0.828	117	88	20	9	---	158	71	17	70	4	32	45
	Giuliana Poletti		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	55	34	17	4	73	90	40	12	38	4	---	9
	Michelle Valiente		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	62	54	3	5	63	68	31	5	32	0	---	18

Preliminary Round

Date	27 July – 3 August 2024
Format	Winners and runners-up in each group advanced to round one, along with the two highest ranked third-placed teams.

Group A

Date	28 July – 1 August 2024

Pos	Pair	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Duda Lisboa / Ana Patrícia Ramos	BRA	3	0	6	6-0	MAX	126-85	1.482
2	Liliana Fernández / Paula Soria	ESP	2	1	5	4-3	1.333	116-131	0.885
3	Valentina Gottardi / Marta Menegatti	ITA	1	2	4	3-4	0.750	126-117	1.077
4	Marwa Abdelhady / Doaa El-Ghobashy	EGY	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	91-126	0.722

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	28 Jul 9:00	Fernández / Soria	ESP	24-22, 9-21, 16-14	Gottardi / Menegatti	ITA
Match #2	28 Jul 15:59	Lisboa / Ramos	BRA	21-14, 21-19	Abdelhady / El-Ghobashy	EGY
Match #3	30 Jul 11:00	Gottardi / Menegatti	ITA	21-16, 21-10	Abdelhady / El-Ghobashy	EGY
Match #4	30 Jul 21:00	Lisboa / Ramos	BRA	21-12, 21-13	Fernández / Soria	ESP
Match #5	01 Aug 11:08	Fernández / Soria	ESP	21-18, 21-14	Abdelhady / El-Ghobashy	EGY
Match #6	01 Aug 20:00	Lisboa / Ramos	BRA	21-17, 21-10	Gottardi / Menegatti	ITA

Group B

Date	27 July – 1 August 2024

Pos	Pair	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Taryn Kloth / Kristen Nuss	USA	3	0	6	6-1	MAX	135-112	1.205
2	Mariafe Artacho / Taliqua Clancy	AUS	2	1	5	4-3	1.333	126-123	1.024
3	Xia Xinyi / Xue Chen	CHN	1	2	4	4-4	1.000	146-137	1.066
4	Heather Bansley / Sophie Bukovec	CAN	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	91-126	0.722

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	27 Jul 18:00	Artacho / Clancy	AUS	22-20, 14-21, 16-14	Xia / Xue	CHN
Match #2	27 Jul 22:02	Kloth / Nuss	USA	21-17, 21-14	Bansley / Bukovec	CAN
Match #3	29 Jul 10:59	Xia / Xue	CHN	21-15, 21-19	Bansley / Bukovec	CAN
Match #4	29 Jul 22:19	Kloth / Nuss	USA	21-16, 21-16	Artacho / Clancy	AUS
Match #5	01 Aug 16:11	Artacho / Clancy	AUS	21-10, 21-16	Bansley / Bukovec	CAN
Match #6	01 Aug 22:03	Kloth / Nuss	USA	15-21, 21-16	Xia / Xue	CHN

Group C

Date	28 July – 2 August 2024

Pos	Pair	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Kelly Cheng / Sara Hughes	USA	3	0	6	6-0	MAX	128-100	1.280
2	Svenja Müller / Cinja Tillmann	GER	2	1	5	4-2	2.000	120-94	1.277
3	Barbora Hermannová / Marie-Sára Štochlová	CZE	1	2	4	2-5	0.400	107-127	0.843
4	Aline Chamereau / Clémence Vieira	FRA	0	3	3	1-6	0.167	106-140	0.757

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	28 Jul 12:32	Müller / Tillmann	GER	21-14, 21-12	Chamereau / Vieira	FRA
Match #2	28 Jul 22:02	Cheng / Hughes	USA	21-16, 21-11	Hermannová / Štochlová	CZE
Match #3	31 Jul 10:59	Müller / Tillmann	GER	21-17, 21-9	Hermannová / Štochlová	CZE
Match #4	31 Jul 15:00	Cheng / Hughes	USA	21-16, 23-21	Chamereau / Vieira	FRA
Match #5	02 Aug 12:00	Hermannová / Štochlová	CZE	21-13, 18-21, 15-9	Chamereau / Vieira	FRA
Match #6	02 Aug 22:03	Cheng / Hughes	USA	21-18, 21-18	Müller / Tillmann	GER

Group D

Date	29 July – 3 August 2024

Pos	Pair	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Esmée Böbner / Zoé Vergé-Dépré	SUI	3	0	6	6-2	3.000	147-133	1.105
2	Tīna Graudiņa / Anastasija Samoilova	LAT	2	1	5	4-2	2.000	114-110	1.036
3	Melissa Humana-Paredes / Brandie Wilkerson	CAN	1	2	4	3-4	0.750	126-120	1.050
4	Giuliana Poletti / Michelle Valiente	PAR	0	3	3	1-6	0.167	116-140	0.829

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	29 Jul 15:00	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN	21-16, 21-12	Poletti / Valiente	PAR
Match #2	29 Jul 16:59	Böbner / Vergé-Dépré	SUI	21-15, 21-14	Graudiņa / Samoilova	LAT
Match #3	31 Jul 11:59	Graudiņa / Samoilova	LAT	21-19, 21-15	Poletti / Valiente	PAR
Match #4	31 Jul 21:30	Böbner / Vergé-Dépré	SUI	21-18, 13-21, 15-11	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN
Match #5	03 Aug 10:59	Böbner / Vergé-Dépré	SUI	23-21, 18-21	Poletti / Valiente	PAR
Match #6	03 Aug 16:59	Graudiņa / Samoilova	LAT	21-14, 22-20	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN

Group E

Date	28 July – 2 August 2024

Pos	Pair	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Carol Solberg / Bárbara Seixas	BRA	3	0	6	6-1	6.000	140-113	1.239
2	Raïsa Schoon / Katja Stam	NED	2	1	5	5-2	2.500	139-122	1.139
3	Akiko Hasegawa / Miki Ishii	JPN	1	2	4	2-4	0.500	103-100	1.030
4	Monika Paulikienė / Ainė Raupelyté	LTU	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	79-126	0.627

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	28 Jul 11:31	Solberg / Seixas	BRA	21-12, 21-19	Hasegawa / Ishii	JPN
Match #2	28 Jul 14:59	Schoon / Stam	NED	21-19, 21-17	Paulikienė / Raupelyté	LTU
Match #3	30 Jul 16:09	Solberg / Seixas	BRA	21-13, 21-14	Paulikienė / Raupelyté	LTU
Match #4	30 Jul 22:03	Schoon / Stam	NED	21-16, 21-14	Hasegawa / Ishii	JPN
Match #5	02 Aug 8:59	Hasegawa / Ishii	JPN	21-11, 21-5	Paulikienė / Raupelyté	LTU
Match #6	02 Aug 17:00	Solberg / Seixas	BRA	16-21, 21-17, 19-17	Schoon / Stam	NED

Group F

Date	29 July – 3 August 2024

Pos	Pair	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Nina Brunner / Tanja Hüberli	SUI	3	0	6	6-0	MAX	126-74	1.703
2	Daniela Álvarez / Tania Moreno	ESP	2	1	5	4-2	2.000	115-104	1.106
3	Lézana Placette / Alexia Richard	FRA	1	2	4	2-5	0.400	89-118	0.754
4	Louisa Lippmann / Laura Ludwig	GER	0	3	3	0-6	0.000	93-127	0.732

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	29 Jul 11:59	Brunner / Hüberli	SUI	21-12, 21-19	Álvarez / Moreno	ESP
Match #2	29 Jul 21:18	Placette / Richard	FRA	21-14, 22-20	Lippmann / Ludwig	GER
Match #3	31 Jul 8:59	Brunner / Hüberli	SUI	21-9, 21-15	Lippmann / Ludwig	GER
Match #4	31 Jul 17:00	Álvarez / Moreno	ESP	21-12, 21-15	Placette / Richard	FRA
Match #5	03 Aug 12:14	Álvarez / Moreno	ESP	21-16, 21-19	Lippmann / Ludwig	GER
Match #6	03 Aug 15:59	Brunner / Hüberli	SUI	21-11, 21-8	Placette / Richard	FRA

Lucky Loser Round

Date	3 August 2024
Format	Contested by third-place finishers in groups who did not advance automatically. Winners of each match advanced to round one.

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	03 Aug	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN	21-15, 21-12	Hermannová / Štochlová	CZE
Match #2	03 Aug	Hasegawa / Ishii	JPN	21-15, 21-18	Placette / Richard	FRA

Round One

Date	4 – 5 August 2024
Format	Winners of each match advanced to the quarter-finals.

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	04 Aug 9:00	Böbner / Vergé-Dépré	SUI	29-27, 21-17	Xia / Xue	CHN
Match #2	04 Aug 17:00	Artacho / Clancy	AUS	24-22, 21-14	Solberg / Seixas	BRA
Match #3	04 Aug 18:05	Brunner / Hüberli	SUI	23-21, 21-16	Fernández / Soria	ESP
Match #4	04 Aug 22:03	Cheng / Hughes	USA	21-18, 17-21, 15-12	Gottardi / Menegatti	ITA
Match #5	05 Aug 8:59	Graudiņa / Samoilova	LAT	21-13, 17-21, 18-16	Müller / Tillmann	GER
Match #6	05 Aug 12:59	Álvarez / Moreno	ESP	18-21, 21-19, 15-13	Schoon / Stam	NED
Match #7	05 Aug 18:00	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN	21-19, 21-18	Kloth / Nuss	USA
Match #8	05 Aug 21:00	Lisboa / Ramos	BRA	21-15, 21-16	Hasegawa / Ishii	JPN

Quarter-Finals

Date	6 – 7 August 2024
Format	Winners of each match advanced to the semi-finals.

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	06 Aug 21:00	Artacho / Clancy	AUS	21-19, 16-21, 15-12	Böbner / Vergé-Dépré	SUI
Match #2	06 Aug 22:10	Brunner / Hüberli	SUI	21-18, 21-19	Cheng / Hughes	USA
Match #3	07 Aug 17:00	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN	21-18, 21-18	Álvarez / Moreno	ESP
Match #4	07 Aug 18:00	Lisboa / Ramos	BRA	21-16, 21-10	Graudiņa / Samoilova	LAT

Semi-Finals

Date	8 August 2024
Format	Winners of each match advanced to the final match.

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match #1	08 Aug 21:00	Lisboa / Ramos	BRA	20-22, 21-15, 15-12	Artacho / Clancy	AUS
Match #2	08 Aug 17:00	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN	14-21, 22-20, 15-12	Brunner / Hüberli	SUI

Final Round

Date	9 August 2024

Match	Date/Time	Pair	NOC	Result	Pair	NOC
Match 3/4	09 Aug 23:00	Brunner / Hüberli	SUI	21-17, 21-15	Artacho / Clancy	AUS
Match 1/2	09 Aug 22:32	Lisboa / Ramos	BRA	26-24, 12-21, 15-10	Humana-Paredes / Wilkerson	CAN