Soviet Union were the first to win the early two editions of the Volleyball Olympic tournament and third in 1964 and also became the runner-up for the 1968 year. And in 1972 it was the Japan who won the gold medal. In 1976, the introduction of a new offensive skill, the back row attack, helped Poland win the competition over the Soviets in a very tight five-setter.
The American boycotted the the 1980 Summer Olympics because Eastern Bloc’s having the strongest teams than anyothers, but it did not have as great an effect on these events as it had on the women's. The USSR collected their third Olympic gold medal with a 3-1 victory over Bulgaria.
In 1984, With a Soviet-led boycott, the US. confirmed their new volleyball leadership in the Western World by sweeping smoothly over Brazil at the finals. In that edition a minor nation, Italy, won its first medal, but Italy would rise to prominence in volleyball in later years.
After all in 1988, a long-waited confrontation came in between the western and eastern volleyball leaders. USA won the second gold medal by the key players Karch kiraly and Steve Timmons
In 1992, Brazil upset favorites Unified Team, Netherlands, and Italy for a first Olympic championship. Runner-up Netherlands, with Ron Zwerver and Olof van der Meulen, came back in the following edition for a five-set win, again over Italy. In spite of their success in other competitions, Italy did not fare well at the Olympics. After winning bronze in 1996, Serbia and Montenegro, led by Vladimir and Nikola Grbić, beat Russia at the finals in 2000 to secure the gold (in 1996 and 2000 they played under the name Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).
In 2004, Brazil beat Italy in the final, adding a second gold medal to its record and confirming its role as a superpower of 2000s.
In 2008 USA got a wonderfull victory over Brazil in the final match and won the third gold medal for them.
Russia won the bronze for the second time. Gold medals seem more evenly distributed in men's volleyball than in women's:USA and the former Sviet Uniion have three; and Brazil two; the remaining four editions of the Volleyball Olympic Tournament were won each by a different country.
Volleyball is a popular sport invented by William G. Morgan in 1895. Volleyball is managed by Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). Volleyball is part of Olympic Games since 1924. Volleyball competition during London 2012 Olympic will take place from Saturday 28th July to Sunday 12th August at Earls Court. Volleyball fans can have Olympic Volleyball Tickets from Sport Ticket Exchange.
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