# Volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics

The volleyball tournaments at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were played between 28 July and 12 August.
The indoor volleyball competition took place at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, in west London, and the beach volleyball tournament was held at Horse Guards Parade in central London.

## Events

Four sets of medals were awarded in the following events:
* Indoor volleyball – men (12 teams)
* Indoor volleyball – women (12 teams)
* Beach volleyball – men (24 teams)
* Beach volleyball – women (24 teams)

## Qualifying criteria

Each National Olympic Committee was allowed to enter one men's and one women's qualified team in the volleyball tournaments and two men's and two women's qualified teams in the beach volleyball.

### Men's indoor volleyball qualification

Details of the men's qualification follow:
| Means of qualification | Date | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host Country | — | — | 1 | Great Britain |
| 2011 World Cup | 20 November – 4 December 2011 | Japan | 3 | Russia |
| 2011 World Cup | 20 November – 4 December 2011 | Japan | 3 | Poland |
| 2011 World Cup | 20 November – 4 December 2011 | Japan | 3 | Brazil |
| African Qualifier | 17–21 January 2012 | Yaoundé | 1 | Tunisia |
| North American Qualifier | 7–12 May 2012 | Long Beach | 1 | United States |
| European Qualifier | 8–13 May 2012 | Sofia | 1 | Italy |
| South American Qualifier | 11–13 May 2012 | Burzaco | 1 | Argentina |
| 1st World Qualifier | 1–10 June 2012 | Tokyo | 1 | Serbia |
| Asian Qualifier* | 1–10 June 2012 | Tokyo | 1 | Australia |
| 2nd World Qualifier | 8–10 June 2012 | Sofia | 1 | Bulgaria |
| 3rd World Qualifier | 8–10 June 2012 | Berlin | 1 | Germany |
| Total | Total | Total | 12 | |

### Women's indoor volleyball qualification

Details of the women's qualification follow:
| Means of qualification | Date | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host country | — | — | 1 | Great Britain |
| 2011 World Cup | 4–18 November 2011 | Japan | 3 | Italy |
| 2011 World Cup | 4–18 November 2011 | Japan | 3 | United States |
| 2011 World Cup | 4–18 November 2011 | Japan | 3 | China |
| African Qualifier | 2–4 February 2012 | Blida | 1 | Algeria |
| North American Qualifier | 29 Apr–5 May 2012 | Tijuana | 1 | Dominican Republic |
| European Qualifier | 1–6 May 2012 | Ankara | 1 | Turkey |
| South American Qualifier | 9–13 May 2012 | São Carlos | 1 | Brazil |
| World Qualifier | 19–27 May 2012 | Tokyo | 3 | Russia |
| World Qualifier | 19–27 May 2012 | Tokyo | 3 | South Korea |
| World Qualifier | 19–27 May 2012 | Tokyo | 3 | Serbia |
| Asian Qualifier | 19–27 May 2012 | Tokyo | 1 | Japan |
| Total | Total | Total | 12 | |
* The Asian Qualification Tournament was combined with the World Qualification Tournament. The first 3 place teams of the tournament won the Olympic spots as the winners of the World Qualification Tournament while the best Asian team except the top 3 winners qualify as the Asian Qualification Tournament winners.

### Men's beach volleyball qualification

| Means of qualification | Vacancies | Qualified |
| FIVB Beach Volleyball Olympic Ranking (as of 17 June 2012) | 16 | Brazil United States Germany Netherlands Poland United States Brazil Germany Spain China Switzerland Czech Republic Latvia Latvia Italy Switzerland |
| 2010–12 Continental Beach Volleyball Cup (confirmed on 2 July 2012) | 5 | Venezuela (South America) South Africa (Africa) Canada (North America) Japan (Asia/Oceania) Norway (Europe) |
| Beach Volleyball World Cup Final Olympic Qualification (26 June – 1 July 2012) | 2 | Austria Russia |
| Host nation | 1 | Great Britain |
| Total | 24 | |

### Women's beach volleyball qualification

| Means of qualification | Vacancies | Qualified |
| FIVB Beach Volleyball Olympic Ranking (as of 17 June 2012) | 16 | Brazil China United States Brazil United States Netherlands Italy Germany Czech Republic Spain Germany Switzerland Austria Australia Czech Republic Greece |
| 2010–12 Continental Beach Volleyball Cup (confirmed on 2 July 2012) | 5 | Mauritius (Africa) Argentina (South America) Russia (Europe) Canada (North America) Australia (Asia/Oceania) |
| Beach Volleyball World Cup Final Olympic Qualification (26 June – 1 July 2012) | 2 | Netherlands Russia |
| Host nation | 1 | Great Britain |
| Total | 24 | |

## Medal summary
### Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Brazil | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | United States | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Russia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Latvia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (7 entries) | Totals (7 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |

### Medalists

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men's indoor details | Russia (RUS) Nikolay Apalikov Taras Khtey (c) Sergey Grankin Sergey Tetyukhin Aleksandr Sokolov Yury Berezhko Aleksandr Butko Dmitriy Muserskiy Dmitriy Ilinikh Maxim Mikhaylov Aleksandr Volkov Aleksey Obmochaev Head coach: Vladimir Alekno | Brazil (BRA) Bruno Rezende Wallace de Souza Sidnei Santos Leandro Vissotto Neves Gilberto Godoy Filho (c) Murilo Endres Sérgio Santos Thiago Alves Rodrigo Santana Lucas Saatkamp Ricardo Garcia Dante Amaral Head coach: Bernardo Rezende | Italy (ITA) Cristian Savani (c) Luigi Mastrangelo Simone Parodi Samuele Papi Michal Lasko Ivan Zaytsev Dante Boninfante Dragan Travica Alessandro Fei Emanuele Birarelli Andrea Bari Andrea Giovi Head coach: Mauro Berruto |
| Women's indoor details | Brazil (BRA) Fabiana Claudino (c) Dani Lins Paula Pequeno Adenízia da Silva Thaísa Menezes Jaqueline Carvalho Fernanda Ferreira Tandara Caixeta Natália Pereira Sheilla Castro Fabiana de Oliveira Fernanda Garay Head coach: José Roberto Guimarães | United States (USA) Danielle Scott-Arruda Tayyiba Haneef-Park Lindsey Berg (c) Tamari Miyashiro Nicole Davis Jordan Larson Megan Hodge Christa Harmotto Logan Tom Foluke Akinradewo Courtney Thompson Destinee Hooker Head coach: Hugh McCutcheon | Japan (JPN) Hitomi Nakamichi Yoshie Takeshita Mai Yamaguchi Erika Araki (c) Kaori Inoue Maiko Kano Yuko Sano Ai Otomo Risa Shinnabe Saori Sakoda Yukiko Ebata Saori Kimura Head coach: Masayoshi Manabe |
| Men's beach details | Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann (GER) | Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego (BRA) | Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Jānis Šmēdiņš (LAT) |
| Women's beach details | Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor (USA) | Jennifer Kessy and April Ross (USA) | Juliana Felisberta and Larissa França (BRA) |