Athens 2004 Official Report - LA84 Foundation

Left page:
Erik Sullivan #5 of the United
States spikes the ball against
Russia during the men's indoor
Volleyball bronze medal match.
Russia won 3-0.
© Getty Images/A. Pretty
Volleyball
Competition Sequence
The Olympic Volleyball competition was conducted over the full 16-day programme of the Olympic
Games (14 to 29 August).
Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Volleyball, like Basketball, is a sport, whose origin
is known almost to the day. Oddly enough, both
sports were invented at the same college and
within a few years of one another William
G. Morgan, a student of the YMCA at Holyoke,
Massachusetts, invented Volleyball in 1895.
The game was originally called "Mintonette".
Volleyball quickly spread around the world and
became popular. The International Volleyball
Federation (Federation Internationale de
Volleyball - FIVB) was founded in Paris in 1947,
where the first regulations were also
formulated. The sport continued to grow, and in
1964 made its Olympic Games debut in Tokyo,
without it first been contested as a
demonstration sport, with the Soviet Union
winning the men's gold medal, and the Japanese
women being crowned champions in front of
their home crowd. Since then, Volleyball has
continued to witness the rise and fall of great
international teams with countries such diverse
as Cuba, Brazil, the former Soviet Union, China,
United States, Netherlands, Poland and Japan
collecting gold medals. Today, Volleyball is one
of the big five international sports, and the FIVB,
with 218 affiliated member National
Federations, is the largest International Sporting
Federation in the world.
Description
Volleyball matches are played between two
teams - each team consisting of six field players
and six substitutes. The court is rectangular
measuring I8x9m, while a net divides the court
into two equal parts, two "team courts". Each
team aims at having the ball pass over the net
and touch the ground of the opposing team,
whilst at the same time avoiding such plays by
the opposing team. The team has three hits for
returning the ball. The ball is put in play with a
service hit by the server over the net to the
opponents. A match consists of three to five
sets, as the winner is the first team to win three
sets. The match is called by two referees, aided
by the scorekeeper and the line judges (two to
four depending on the level of the match).
Men's tournament with 12 teams
Total: 2
Women's tournament with 12 teams
Competitors: 288
Event
Men
Women
Players
144
144
NOC
12
12
The Peace and Friendship Stadium, which is
situated on the coast of Faliro in the south of
Athens very close to the port of Piraeus, has a
distinct modern architectural style. The stadium
enjoyed international prestige and an enviable
reputation, having been used as a venue for
important European and international sport
championships, as well as professional and
commercial fairs. Its renovation had been
undertaken by the General Secretariat of
Sports (GSS) and resulted in a 13.200 seated
capacity stadium.
Games Highlights
Men's Tournament
Brazil was the Athens Olympic champion,
after their amazing 3-1 win over Italy in the gold
medal match at the Peace and Friendship
Stadium.
Russia also stepped on to the podium, beating
the United States in the bronze medal match.
Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad 421