Volleyball 2016 Rio Olympic Review

Men’s Volleyball

Pool A was particularly tight with four teams managing to win at least three games. Those were the four teams that qualified, with France just missing out. The group was won by Italy, who won their first four games, only losing their final game, once already qualified. Their loss was key though as Canada got into second, finishing above the United States and Brazil on set ratio. Similarly tight was Pool B, with the three top teams winning four games. It was Argentina who finished first in the group, overcoming a 3-0 loss to second-placed Poland, with Russia also advancing on four wins. It became clear in the knockout stages that Pool A was stronger, as they sent three teams through to the semi-finals. Italy beat Iran 3-0, whilst Brazil shocked Argentina 3-1. They were joined by the United States and Russia. Italy went 2-1 down to the United States in the semi-final, but fought back strongly to rebound and take the victory. They’d come up against Brazil in the final who managed to beat them in straight sets.

🥇Brazil 🇧🇷

🥈Italy 🇮🇹

🥉United States 🇺🇸

Women’s Volleyball

In Pool A, it was the four seeded teams who qualified, with Brazil leading the pack, winning all their matches without losing a set. Also winning all their pool games were the United States, followed by a surprising performance by the Netherlands who came in second. The Netherlands continued that strong performance by beating South Korea to make the semi-final. There, they came up against China who had overcome Brazil, winning 3-2, in the shock of the tournament. China ended the fairytale Dutch run and went on to face Serbia in the final. Serbia had finished above them in the group stage and had even beaten them 3-0. Serbia took the first set again, but this time China rebounded winning 3-1 to take the gold medal, whilst Zhu Ting would win the most valuable player.

🥇China 🇨🇳

🥈Serbia 🇷🇸

🥉United States 🇺🇸