| | Event type

Volleyball, Women

Date	21 – 29 September 1988
Status	Olympic
Location	Che-yuk-gwan, Han-yang Dae-hak-gyo, Seoul
Participants	95 from 8 countries
Format	Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches.

The teams qualified as follows: defending Olympic Champion (China), 1986 World Championships (Cuba, replacing China), host nation (Korea), European Champion (GDR [East Germany]), Asian Champion (Japan), North American Champion (United States), and South American Champion (Peru). Africa was allowed to enter a team, but there was no interest, and a qualifying tournament was held in Italy, won by the Soviet Union. When Cuba boycotted, it was replaced by Brazil.

China had won the last two World Championships, while the last four European titles were split among the Soviet Union and East Germany (GDR). Peru had been on the podium at the 1982 and 1986 Worlds, led by Cecilia Tait and Denise Fajardo, considered the best female players in the world. Cuba had been runners-up at the 1986 World Championships, but boycotted the 1988 Olympics. Eventually Peru and the USSR made it to the final, where they engaged in an epic match. Peru won the first two sets, 15-10, 15-12, and they led the third set, 12-6. The Soviets called a timeout and made several substitutions and fought back. They won the third and fourth sets, and won the first six points of the fifth set. But Peru would not quit, tying the score 7-7. Then the USSR pulled gradually ahead, only to see the Lazarus-like Peruvians take the lead at 15-14. After both teams fought off match points, the Soviet Union prevailed, 17-15 in five sets. The USSR was quite fortunate, as it had not originally qualified for the Olympic tournament, being added to the field after a qualifying tournament held only when no African team wished to compete.

Women’s volleyball had become very popular in Peru, where it flourished in the poor neighborhoods of Lima, when fields were created for girls to play (boys played football). Peru hosted the 1982 World Championships (finishing second), and nearly won the first Peruvian gold in 40 years in Seoul. They were coached by a Korean (Park Man-Bok), the women’s team coach since 1973. Three of the players later became members of parliament: Gaby Pérez, Cenaida Uribe, and Cecilia Tait. Tait was an orphan, who was adopted by a volleyball club at the age of 12.

Pos	Number	Team	NOC	Matches Played	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio	Side Outs
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	5	4	1	9	14-5	2.800	268-190	1.411	–	Gold
	1	Valentina Ogiyenko		5	–	–	36	–-–	–	–-–	–	63
	3	Yelena Volkova		3	–	–	5	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	4	Marina Kumysh		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	5	Irina Smirnova-Ilchenko		5	–	–	75	–-–	–	–-–	–	89
	6	Tatyana Sidorenko		5	–	–	51	–-–	–	–-–	–	69
	7	Irina Parkhomchuk		5	–	–	23	–-–	–	–-–	–	18
	8	Tatyana Kraynova		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	9	Olga Shkurnova		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	1
	10	Marina Nikulina-Pankova		5	–	–	20	–-–	–	–-–	–	9
	11	Jelena Ovchinnikova-Čebukina		5	–	–	36	–-–	–	–-–	–	48
	12	Olga Krivosheyeva		3	–	–	1	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	13	Svetlana Korytova		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
Coach		Nikolay Karpol
2	–	Peru	PER	5	4	1	9	14-9	1.556	303-269	1.126	–	Silver
	1	Kathy Horny		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	2	Cenaida Uribe		5	–	–	35	–-–	–	–-–	–	66
	3	Rosa García		5	–	–	31	–-–	–	–-–	–	23
	4	Miriam Gallardo		3	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	5	Gaby Pérez		5	–	–	61	–-–	–	–-–	–	80
	6	Sonia Heredia		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	7	Cecilia Tait		5	–	–	54	–-–	–	–-–	–	97
	8	Luisa Cervera		5	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	9	Denisse Fajardo		5	–	–	30	–-–	–	–-–	–	43
	10	Alejandra de la Guerra		5	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	11	Gina Torrealva		5	–	–	30	–-–	–	–-–	–	51
	12	Natalia Málaga		5	–	–	29	–-–	–	–-–	–	17
Coach		Park Man-Bok
3	–	People's Republic of China	CHN	5	3	2	8	11-7	1.571	217-202	1.074	–	Bronze
	2	Li Guojun		2	–	–	4	–-–	–	–-–	–	8
	4	Hou Yuzhu		5	–	–	45	–-–	–	–-–	–	66
	5	Wang Yajun		3	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	6	Yang Xilan		5	–	–	13	–-–	–	–-–	–	13
	7	Su Huijuan		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	2
	8	Jiang Ying		5	–	–	32	–-–	–	–-–	–	61
	9	Cui Yongmei		4	–	–	1	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	10	Yang Xiaojun		5	–	–	36	–-–	–	–-–	–	48
	11	Zheng Meizhu		5	–	–	3	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	12	Wu Dan		5	–	–	32	–-–	–	–-–	–	60
	15	Li Yueming		5	–	–	22	–-–	–	–-–	–	39
	3	Zhou Hong DNS		–	–	–	–	–-–	–	–-–	–	–
Coach		Li Yaoxian
4	–	Japan	JPN	5	2	3	7	10-12	0.833	256-265	0.966	–
	1	Yumi Egami-Maruyama		5	–	–	31	–-–	–	–-–	–	54
	2	Kayoko Sugiyama		5	–	–	37	–-–	–	–-–	–	49
	3	Reiko Takizawa		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	4	Miyako Yamashita		4	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	5	Akemi Sugiyama		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	6	Ichiko Sato		5	–	–	13	–-–	–	–-–	–	28
	7	Norie Hiro		5	–	–	63	–-–	–	–-–	–	89
	8	Kumi Nakada		5	–	–	28	–-–	–	–-–	–	19
	9	Yukari Kawase		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	10	Motoko Obayashi		5	–	–	42	–-–	–	–-–	–	86
	11	Yukiko Takahashi		5	–	–	9	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	12	Sachiko Fujita		5	–	–	16	–-–	–	–-–	–	29
Coach		Noriyuki Muneuchi
5	–	East Germany	GDR	5	3	2	8	10-10	1.000	238-246	0.967	–
	1	Steffi Schmidt		3	–	–	4	–-–	–	–-–	–	1
	2	Susanne Lahme		5	–	–	20	–-–	–	–-–	–	36
	3	Monika Beu		5	–	–	20	–-–	–	–-–	–	26
	4	Ariane Radfan		5	–	–	39	–-–	–	–-–	–	38
	5	Kathrin Langschwager		3	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	6	Maike Arlt		5	–	–	35	–-–	–	–-–	–	38
	7	Brit Wiedemann		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	1
	8	Ute Steppin		5	–	–	27	–-–	–	–-–	–	55
	9	Grit Jensen-Naumann		5	–	–	41	–-–	–	–-–	–	92
	10	Dörte Stüdemann		5	–	–	14	–-–	–	–-–	–	10
	11	Heike Jensen		3	–	–	1	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	12	Ute Langenau		4	–	–	15	–-–	–	–-–	–	34
Coach		Siegfried Köhler
6	–	Brazil	BRA	5	1	4	6	7-14	0.500	235-276	0.851	–
	1	Kerly Santos		2	–	–	3	–-–	–	–-–	–	8
	2	Ana Moser		5	–	–	4	–-–	–	–-–	–	10
	4	Vera Mossa		5	–	–	42	–-–	–	–-–	–	50
	5	Lica		5	–	–	19	–-–	–	–-–	–	29
	6	Ana Richa		5	–	–	20	–-–	–	–-–	–	13
	7	Dora Castanheira		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	8	Ana Ramos		5	–	–	36	–-–	–	–-–	–	68
	9	Márcia Fu		4	–	–	20	–-–	–	–-–	–	33
	11	Ana Lúcia		5	–	–	7	–-–	–	–-–	–	20
	12	Sandra		5	–	–	16	–-–	–	–-–	–	37
	14	Fernanda		5	–	–	23	–-–	–	–-–	–	52
	15	Simone Storm		3	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	3
Coach		Jorge Araujo
7	–	United States	USA	5	2	3	7	9-13	0.692	257-273	0.941	–
	1	Melissa McLinden		5	–	–	4	–-–	–	–-–	–	7
	2	Angela Rock		5	–	–	29	–-–	–	–-–	–	32
	3	Liz Masakayan		5	–	–	40	–-–	–	–-–	–	34
	4	Kim Oden		5	–	–	45	–-–	–	–-–	–	83
	6	Kim Ruddins		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	7	Caren Kemner		5	–	–	40	–-–	–	–-–	–	66
	8	Tammy Webb-Liley		5	–	–	2	–-–	–	–-–	–	5
	9	Deitre Collins		5	–	–	35	–-–	–	–-–	–	48
	10	Laurel Kessel		5	–	–	14	–-–	–	–-–	–	16
	12	Keba Phipps		5	–	–	29	–-–	–	–-–	–	41
	14	Liane Sato		5	–	–	3	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	15	Jayne McHugh		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
Coach		Terry Liskevych
8	–	Republic of Korea	KOR	5	1	4	6	8-13	0.615	224-277	0.809	–
	1	Park Mi-Hui		5	–	–	33	–-–	–	–-–	–	78
	2	Kim Gyeong-Hui		5	–	–	3	–-–	–	–-–	–	3
	3	Kim Gwi-Sun		5	–	–	41	–-–	–	–-–	–	52
	4	Im Hye-Suk		5	–	–	20	–-–	–	–-–	–	19
	5	Yu Yeong-Mi		5	–	–	34	–-–	–	–-–	–	76
	6	Nam Sun-Ok		5	–	–	11	–-–	–	–-–	–	6
	7	Yun Jeong-Hye		4	–	–	8	–-–	–	–-–	–	11
	8	Park Bok-Ye		5	–	–	10	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	9	Kim Yun-Hye		3	–	–	8	–-–	–	–-–	–	10
	10	Sun Mi-Sook		1	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	11	Mun Seon-Hui		2	–	–	0	–-–	–	–-–	–	0
	12	Ji Gyeong-Hui		5	–	–	26	–-–	–	–-–	–	67
Coach		Hwung Sung-On

Preliminary Round

Date	21 – 25 September 1988

Group A

Date	21 – 25 September 1988
Format	Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Soviet Union	URS	2	1	5	8-3	2.667	154-114	1.351
2	Japan	JPN	2	1	5	8-6	1.333	173-159	1.088
3	Republic of Korea	KOR	1	2	4	4-7	0.571	116-137	0.847
4	East Germany	GDR	1	2	4	4-8	0.500	127-160	0.794

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	21 Sep 12:00	Japan	JPN	15-2, 8-15, 15-12, 10-15, 19-17	Soviet Union	URS
Match #2	21 Sep 18:30	Republic of Korea	KOR	15-6, 14-16, 15-10, 15-7	East Germany	GDR
Match #3	23 Sep 18:30	East Germany	GDR	11-15, 16-14, 4-15, 15-2, 15-7	Japan	JPN
Match #4	23 Sep 20:30	Soviet Union	URS	15-5, 15-8, 15-7	Republic of Korea	KOR
Match #5	25 Sep 9:45	Soviet Union	URS	18-16, 15-7, 15-4	East Germany	GDR
Match #6	25 Sep 12:00	Japan	JPN	8-15, 15-3, 15-11, 15-8	Republic of Korea	KOR

Group B

Date	21 – 25 September 1988
Format	Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets	Set Ratio	Points	Points Ratio
1	Peru	PER	3	0	6	9-4	2.250	177-142	1.246
2	People's Republic of China	CHN	2	1	5	8-4	2.000	161-132	1.220
3	United States	USA	1	2	4	5-8	0.625	140-167	0.838
4	Brazil	BRA	0	3	3	3-9	0.333	126-163	0.773

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	21 Sep 9:45	People's Republic of China	CHN	15-9, 15-5, 15-7	United States	USA
Match #2	21 Sep 20:30	Peru	PER	15-11, 15-11, 15-3	Brazil	BRA
Match #3	23 Sep 9:45	United States	USA	14-16, 15-5, 15-13, 12-15, 15-7	Brazil	BRA
Match #4	23 Sep 12:00	Peru	PER	13-15, 15-13, 7-15, 15-12, 16-14	People's Republic of China	CHN
Match #5	25 Sep 18:30	People's Republic of China	CHN	2-15, 15-7, 15-12, 15-11	Brazil	BRA
Match #6	25 Sep 20:30	Peru	PER	12-15, 9-15, 15-4, 15-5, 15-9	United States	USA

Classification Round 5-8

Date	27 September 1988
Format	Classification matches.

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	27 Sep 12:00	Brazil	BRA	15-6, 15-17, 8-15, 15-4, 17-15	Republic of Korea	KOR
Match #2	27 Sep 18:00	East Germany	GDR	15-13, 15-11, 10-15, 15-8	United States	USA

Semi-Finals

Date	27 September 1988
Format	Single-elimination.

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	27 Sep 9:45	Peru	PER	15-9, 15-6, 6-15, 10-15, 15-13	Japan	JPN
Match #2	27 Sep 20:30	Soviet Union	URS	15-0, 15-9, 15-2	People's Republic of China	CHN

Final Round

Date	29 September 1988
Format	Medal round.

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match 1/2	29 Sep 20:30	Soviet Union	URS	10-15, 12-15, 15-13, 15-7, 17-15	Peru	PER
Match 3/4	29 Sep 18:00	People's Republic of China	CHN	15-13, 15-6, 15-6	Japan	JPN
Match 5/6	29 Sep 12:00	East Germany	GDR	15-9, 15-4, 11-15, 15-11	Brazil	BRA
Match 7/8	29 Sep 9:45	United States	USA	15-4, 12-15, 13-15, 15-9, 15-8	Republic of Korea	KOR