Volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

This article is about the indoor tournament. For the beach tournament, see Beach volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament.

The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held at Capital Indoor Stadium and Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium from 9 to 23 August 2008.^[1]

Women's volleyball at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue	Capital Indoor Stadium and Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium
Date	9–23 August
Competitors	144 from 12 nations
Medalists
Brazil (1st title)  United States  China
← 2004 2012 →

Competing teams

The twelve competing teams were split equally into two pools of six teams. Each team played all other teams in their pool with the winning team gaining two points and the losing side earning one point. The top four teams from each pool progressed through to the quarterfinals. The rest of the tournament was a single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match held between the two semifinal losers.

A total of 38 matches were played: 15 in each group, four quarterfinals, two semifinals, one bronze medal match, and one gold medal match.

Brazil won its first gold by defeating United States in the final.

China won bronze by winning against Cuba.

Competition schedule

P

Preliminary round

¼

Quarterfinals

½

Semifinals

B

Bronze medal match

F

Final

Sat 9	Sun 10	Mon 11	Tue 12	Wed 13	Thu 14	Fri 15	Sat 16	Sun 17	Mon 18	Tue 19		Wed 20		Thu 21		Fri 22	Sat 23
P		P		P		P		P		¼				½			B	F

Qualification

Means of qualification	Date	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host Country	13 July 2001	Moscow	1	China
2007 FIVB Women's World Cup	2–16 November 2007	Japan	3	Italy  Brazil  United States
African Olympic Qualification Tournament	22–26 January 2008	Blida	1	Algeria
Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament*	17–25 May 2008	Tokyo	1	Kazakhstan
European Olympic Qualification Tournament	15–20 January 2008	Halle	1	Russia
North American Olympic Qualification Tournament	17–22 December 2007	Monterrey	1	Cuba
South American Olympic Qualification Tournament	3–7 January 2008	Lima	1	Venezuela
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	17–25 May 2008	Tokyo	3	Poland  Serbia  Japan
Total			12

* The Asian Olympic qualification tournament and the World Olympic Qualification Tournament are combined into one event. The top 3 teams at the tournament will qualify as the medallists of the World Olympic Qualification Tournament while the best Asian team outside the top 3 will qualify as the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament champion.

Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their ranking as of January 2008.^[2]

Twelve qualified nations were drawn into two groups, each consisting of six teams. After a robin-round, the four highest-placed teams in each group advanced to a knock-out round to decide the medals.

Group A	Group B
China (Hosts)	Brazil (1)
Cuba (3)	Italy (2)
United States (4)	Russia (5)
Japan (8)	Serbia (7)
Poland (9)	Kazakhstan (16)
Venezuela (29)	Algeria (21)

Roster

Main article: Volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's team rosters

Pool A

•  China (roster)
•  Cuba (roster)
•  Japan (roster)
•  Poland (roster)
•  United States (roster)
•  Venezuela (roster)

Pool B

•  Algeria (roster)
•  Brazil (roster)
•  Italy (roster)
•  Kazakhstan (roster)
•  Russia (roster)
•  Serbia (roster)

Preliminary round

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8).

Pool A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SPW	SPL	SPR	SW	SL	SR	Qualification
1	Cuba	5	5	0	10	426	371	1.148	15	3	5.000	Quarterfinals
2	United States	5	4	1	9	459	441	1.041	12	9	1.333
3	China	5	3	2	8	467	395	1.182	13	7	1.857
4	Japan	5	2	3	7	381	389	0.979	7	11	0.636
5	Poland	5	1	4	6	441	445	0.991	9	12	0.750
6	Venezuela	5	0	5	5	262	395	0.663	1	15	0.067

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

9 August 2008 14:30	Poland	1–3	Cuba	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 14,000 Referees: Kim Kun-Tae (South Korea), Janpen Jirakakul (Thailand)
	(25–21, 17–25, 20–25, 17–25) result statistics

9 August 2008 20:00	Venezuela	0–3	China	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Dejan Jovanovic (Serbia), Patrick Deregnaucourt (France)
	(13–25, 13–25, 18–25) result statistics

9 August 2008 22:00	Japan	1–3	United States	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 11,500 Referees: Massimo Menghini (Italy), Andrei Zenovich (Russia)
	(20–25, 25–20, 19–25, 21–25) result statistics

---

11 August 2008 12:35	United States	0–3	Cuba	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Umit Sokullu (Turkey), Dejan Jovanovic (Serbia)
	(15–25, 24–26, 17–25) result statistics

11 August 2008 20:00	China	3–1	Poland	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Victor Manuel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico), Francisco de Souza (Brazil)
	(22–25, 25–15, 25–20, 25–22) result statistics

11 August 2008 22:15	Japan	3–0	Venezuela	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referees: Karin Zahorcova (Czech Republic), Frans Loderus (Netherlands)
	(25–12, 25–17, 25–12) result statistics

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13 August 2008 12:00	Venezuela	1–3	United States	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,400 Referees: Andrei Zenovich (Russia), Dejan Jovanovic (Serbia)
	(17–25, 25–20, 14–25, 18–25) result statistics

13 August 2008 20:00	Cuba	3–2	China	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 13,000 Referees: Frank Leuthauser (Germany), Massimo Menghini (Italy)
	(18–25, 14–25, 25–23, 32–30, 15–13) result statistics

13 August 2008 22:30	Poland	2–3	Japan	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 5,400 Referees: Humberto Salas (Mexico), Francisco de Souza (Brazil)
	(21–25, 20–25, 25–18, 25–23, 11–15) result statistics

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15 August 2008 12:30	Venezuela	0–3	Poland	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 11,000 Referees: Janpen Jirakakul (Thailand), Humberto Salas (Mexico)
	(12–25, 12–25, 20–25) result statistics

15 August 2008 20:00	United States	3–2	China	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 13,000 Referees: Konstantin Tufekchiev (Bulgaria), Umit Sokullu (Turkey)
	(23–25, 25–22, 23–25, 25–20, 15–11) result statistics

15 August 2008 22:45	Japan	0–3	Cuba	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referees: Andrei Zenovich (Russia), Massimo Menghini (Italy)
	(17–25, 22–25, 22–25) result statistics

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17 August 2008 12:00	Cuba	3–0	Venezuela	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Andrei Zenovich (Russia), Konstantin Tufekchiev (Bulgaria)
	(25–20, 25–20, 25–19) result statistics

17 August 2008 12:30	Poland	2–3	United States	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 11,000 Referees: Ibrahim al-Naama (Qatar), Francisco de Souza (Brazil)
	(25–18, 21–25, 25–19, 19–25, 13–15) result statistics

17 August 2008 20:00	China	3–0	Japan	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 13,000 Referees: Kim Kun-Tae (South Korea), Janpen Jirakakul (Thailand)
	(26–24, 25–16, 25–14) result statistics

Pool B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SPW	SPL	SPR	SW	SL	SR	Qualification
1	Brazil	5	5	0	10	377	226	1.668	15	0	MAX	Quarterfinals
2	Italy	5	4	1	9	372	315	1.181	12	4	3.000
3	Russia	5	3	2	8	353	312	1.131	10	6	1.667
4	Serbia	5	2	3	7	343	349	0.983	6	10	0.600
5	Kazakhstan	5	1	4	6	323	404	0.800	4	13	0.308
6	Algeria	5	0	5	5	230	392	0.587	1	15	0.067

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

9 August 2008 10:00	Italy	3–1	Russia	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,100 Referees: Frank Leuthauser (Germany), Karin Zahorcova (Czech Republic)
	(25–20, 17–25, 25–16, 25–23) result statistics

9 August 2008 12:15	Serbia	3–1	Kazakhstan	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 1,800 Referees: Mitch Davidson (Canada), Victor Manuel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico)
	(25–21, 25–17, 23–25, 25–21) result statistics

9 August 2008 12:30	Algeria	0–3	Brazil	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Liu Jiang (China), Ibrahim al-Naama (Qatar)
	(11–25, 11–25, 10–25) result statistics

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11 August 2008 10:00	Algeria	0–3	Serbia	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,100 Referees: Janpen Jirakakul (Thailand), Liu Jiang (China)
	(14–25, 13–25, 13–25) result statistics

11 August 2008 12:00	Kazakhstan	0–3	Italy	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,100 Referees: Patricia Salvatore (United States), Humberto Salas (Mexico)
	(19–25, 15–25, 21–25) result statistics

11 August 2008 14:30	Brazil	3–0	Russia	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Osamu Sakaide (Japan), Wang Ning (China)
	(25–14, 25–14, 25–16) result statistics

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13 August 2008 10:00	Italy	3–0	Algeria	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,400 Referees: Karin Zahorcova (Czech Republic), Janpen Jirakakul (Thailand)
	(25–7, 25–20, 25–12) result statistics

13 August 2008 12:30	Russia	3–0	Kazakhstan	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Liu Jiang (China), Patricia Salvatore (United States)
	(25–19, 25–18, 25–11) result statistics

13 August 2008 14:30	Serbia	0–3	Brazil	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 11,000 Referees: Kim Kun-Tae (South Korea), Frans Loderus (Netherlands)
	(15–25, 13–25, 23–25) result statistics

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15 August 2008 10:00	Algeria	0–3	Russia	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Patricia Salvatore (United States), Osamu Sakaide (Japan)
	(11–25, 19–25, 10–25) result statistics

15 August 2008 12:00	Brazil	3–0	Kazakhstan	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Dejan Jovanovic (Serbia), Karin Zahorcova (Czech Republic)
	(25–13, 25–6, 27–25) result statistics

15 August 2008 14:30	Serbia	0–3	Italy	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 11,000 Referees: Frans Loderus (Netherlands), Frank Leuthauser (Germany)
	(23–25, 20–25, 19–25) result statistics

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17 August 2008 10:00	Kazakhstan	3–1	Algeria	Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Patricia Salvatore (United States), Massimo Menghini (Italy)
	(25–18, 25–20, 17–25, 25–16) result statistics

17 August 2008 15:15	Italy	0–3	Brazil	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 10,500 Referees: Humberto Salas (Mexico), Mitch Davidson (Canada)
	(16–25, 22–25, 17–25) result statistics

17 August 2008 22:00	Russia	3–0	Serbia	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 7,000 Referees: Osamu Sakaide (Japan), Karin Zahorcova (Czech Republic)
	(25–21, 25–16, 25–20) result statistics

Knockout stage

The first four teams in each Preliminary Round pool advanced to the quarterfinals, eight teams in total. The format was as follows:
A1 vs. B4 (first place in pool A vs. fourth place in pool B)
B1 vs. A4
A drawing of lots determined the pairings among A2/A3 and B2/B3. The purpose of this drawing was to prevent a second-place team in a pool from deliberately losing the last game in pool play in order to select an "easier" opponent (in the sense of matchups) in the quarterfinals.

Based on a drawing of lots after the group stage, the United States faced and defeated Italy, while China drew and won against Russia in their quarterfinal matches.^[3] The other quarterfinal match-ups were determined by the pool standings. Brazil (pool B winner) played Japan (pool A 4th place). Cuba (pool A winner) played play Serbia (pool B 4th place).^[3] Both top seeds went on to defeat their opponents 3–0, thus reaching the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Brazil defeated the host nation and defending champion China, while the United States defeated Cuba. Both semifinal matches were won 3–0.

In the final, Brazil, for the first time in the tournament, lost a set but was able to win the next two sets from the United States to claim the match and the gold medal. In the third-place match, China defeated Cuba for the bronze medal.

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Gold medal match
	19 August
	Cuba	3
					21 August
	Serbia	0
					Cuba	0
	19 August
					United States	3
	United States	3
									23 August
	Italy	2
									United States	1
	19 August
									Brazil	3
	China	3
					21 August
	Russia	0
					China	0
	19 August
					Brazil	3			Bronze medal match
	Japan	0
									23 August
	Brazil	3
									Cuba	1
									China	3

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).

Quarterfinals

19 August 2008 10:00	Cuba	3–0	Serbia	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,500 Referees: Ibrahim al-Naama (Qatar), Kim Kun-Tae (South Korea)
	(26–24, 25–19, 26–24) result statistics

19 August 2008 12:00	Japan	0–3	Brazil	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,500 Referees: Konstantin Tufekchiev (Bulgaria), Karin Zahorcova (Czech Republic)
	(12–25, 20–25, 16–25) result statistics

19 August 2008 20:00	China	3–0	Russia	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 13,000 Referees: Humberto Salas (Mexico), Victor Manuel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico)
	(25–22, 27–25, 25–19) result statistics

19 August 2008 22:00	United States	3–2	Italy	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referees: Francisco de Souza (Brazil), Osamu Sakaide (Japan)
	(20–25, 25–21, 19–25, 25–18, 15–6) result statistics

Semifinals

21 August 2008 12:35	Cuba	0–3	United States	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 13,000 Referees: Frans Loderus (Netherlands), Dejan Jovanovic (Serbia)
	(20–25, 16–25, 17–25) result statistics

21 August 2008 20:00	China	0–3	Brazil	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 13,000 Referees: Frank Leuthauser (Germany), Andrei Zenovich (Russia)
	(25–27, 22–25, 14–25) result statistics

Bronze medal match

23 August 2008 12:30	Cuba	1–3	China	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 12,500 Referees: Andrei Zenovich (Russia), Konstantin Tufekchiev (Bulgaria)
	(16–25, 25–21, 13–25, 20–25) result statistics

Gold medal match

23 August 2008 20:00	United States	1–3	Brazil	Capital Indoor Stadium Attendance: 13.000 Referees: Massimo Menghini (Italy), Umit Sokullu (Turkey)
	(15–25, 25–18, 13–25, 21–25) result statistics

Award ceremony

• 21:50, 23 August 2008

Statistics leaders

• Only players whose teams advanced to the quarterfinals are ranked.

Best Scorers Rank Name Points 1 Logan Tom 124 2 Sheilla Castro 109 3 Rosir Calderon 106 4 Yumilka Ruiz 103 5 Tayyiba Haneef-Park 102

Best Spikers Rank Name %Eff 1 Rosir Calderon 42.58 2 Nancy Carrillo 41.13 3 Yumilka Ruiz 40.86 4 Paula Pequeno 39.13 5 Jelena Nikolic 35.00

Best Blockers Rank Name Avg 1 Erika Araki 0.86 2 Ekaterina Gamova 0.84 Fabiana Claudino Paula Pequeno Sheilla Castro

Best Servers Rank Name Avg 1 Yanelis Santos 0.61 2 Jovana Brakocevic 0.53 3 Taismary Aguero 0.48 4 Marianne Steinbrecher 0.40 5 Erika Araki 0.38

Best Diggers Rank Name Avg 1 Paola Cardullo 3.38 2 Yuko Sano 3.29 3 Fabiana de Oliveira 3.24 4 Suzana Cebic 3.21 5 Nicole Davis 2.88

Best Setters Rank Name Avg 1 Helia Souza 7.28 2 Maja Ognjenovic 6.58 3 Yoshie Takeshita 6.10 4 Eleonora Lo Bianco 5.90 5 Robyn Ah Mow-Santos 3.70

Best Receivers Rank Name %Succ 1 Francesca Piccinini 61.00 2 Jelena Nikolic 59.44 3 Yuko Sano 77.88 4 Antonella Del Core 57.27 5 Marianne Steinbrecher 56.25

Source:

Final standings

Place[4] Team  Brazil  United States  China 4  Cuba 5  Italy  Japan  Russia  Serbia 9  Kazakhstan  Poland 11  Algeria  Venezuela

2008 Women's Olympic champions  Brazil 1st title 12–woman roster Oliveira, Albuquerque, Steinbrecher, Pequeno, Menezes, Hélia Souza (c), Menezes, Claudino, Gonzaga, Carvalho, Castro, Fabiana de Oliveira (L) Head coach Zé Roberto

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Brazil (BRA) Walewska Oliveira Carolina Albuquerque Marianne Steinbrecher Paula Pequeno Thaisa Menezes Hélia Souza (c) Valeska Menezes Fabiana Claudino Welissa Gonzaga Jaqueline Carvalho Sheilla Castro Fabiana de Oliveira (L) Head coach: Zé Roberto	United States (USA) Ogonna Nnamani Danielle Scott-Arruda Tayyiba Haneef-Park Lindsey Berg Stacy Sykora (L) Nicole Davis (L) Heather Bown Jennifer Joines Kim Glass Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (c) Kim Willoughby Logan Tom Head coach: Jenny Lang Ping	China (CHN) Wang Yimei Feng Kun (c) Yang Hao Liu Yanan Wei Qiuyue Xu Yunli Zhou Suhong Zhao Ruirui Xue Ming Li Juan Zhang Na (L) Ma Yunwen Head coach: Chen Zhonghe

Individual awards

• Most valuable player

   Paula Pequeno (BRA)

• Best scorer

   Logan Tom (USA)

• Best spiker

   Rosir Calderón (CUB)

• Best blocker

   Erika Araki (JPN)

• Best server

   Yanelis Santos (CUB)

• Best setter

   Hélia Souza (BRA)

• Best digger

   Zhang Na (CHN)

• Best receiver

   Zhou Suhong (CHN)

• Best libero

   Fabiana de Oliveira (BRA)

• Fair Play Award:

   Zhao Ruirui (CHN)

• Most popular player:

   Feng Kun (CHN)