# Volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London was the 13th edition of the event in an Olympic Games, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre from 28 July to 11 August 2012.

## Qualification

| 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.

## Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their ranking as of 15 January 2012.
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 |
| Great Britain (Hosts) | United States (1) |
| Japan (3) | Brazil (2) |
| Italy (4) | China (5) |
| Russia (7) | Serbia (6) |
| Dominican Republic (9) | Turkey (11) |
| Algeria (16) | South Korea (13) |

## Preliminary round

Teams played a round-robin schedule within the pool and those with the top four point totals advanced to a knockout round. Teams were awarded three points for a 3–0 or 3–1 win, two points for a 3–2 win, one point for a 3–2 loss, and zero points for a 3–0 or 3–1 loss. If at the end of pool play teams are tied the tiebreakers are (1) most wins, (2) set win ratio, (3) points ratio, and (4) head-to-head. If three or more teams are tied, the tiebreakers are applied only to the matches between tied teams.
* All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00).

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Russia | 5 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 4 | 3.750 | 459 | 352 | 1.304 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Italy | 5 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 14 | 5 | 2.800 | 442 | 368 | 1.201 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Japan | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 1.833 | 401 | 335 | 1.197 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Dominican Republic | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 0.889 | 374 | 362 | 1.033 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Great Britain | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 0.214 | 295 | 396 | 0.745 | |
| 6 | Algeria | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 0.133 | 252 | 410 | 0.615 | |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 5 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 7.500 | 426 | 345 | 1.235 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | China | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 1.100 | 475 | 461 | 1.030 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | South Korea | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 1.100 | 449 | 452 | 0.993 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Brazil | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 1.000 | 447 | 420 | 1.064 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Turkey | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 0.818 | 434 | 443 | 0.980 | |
| 6 | Serbia | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0.133 | 297 | 407 | 0.730 | |

## Knockout stage

* All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00).

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 7 August | 7 August | | | |
| Russia | 2 | | | |
| Russia | 2 | 9 August | 9 August | | |
| Brazil | 3 | 9 August | 9 August | |
| Brazil | 3 | Brazil | 3 | |
| 7 August | 7 August | | Brazil | 3 | |
| 7 August | 7 August | Japan | 0 | |
| Japan | 3 | Japan | 0 | |
| Japan | 3 | | | | 11 August | 11 August |
| China | 2 | | | | 11 August | 11 August |
| China | 2 | | | | Brazil | 3 |
| 7 August | 7 August | | | | | Brazil | 3 |
| 7 August | 7 August | | | | United States | 1 |
| Italy | 1 | | | | United States | 1 |
| Italy | 1 | 9 August | 9 August | | | |
| South Korea | 3 | 9 August | 9 August | | | |
| South Korea | 3 | South Korea | 0 | | | |
| 7 August | 7 August | | South Korea | 0 | | | |
| 7 August | 7 August | United States | 3 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| United States | 3 | United States | 3 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| United States | 3 | | | | 11 August | 11 August |
| Dominican Republic | 0 | | | | 11 August | 11 August |
| Dominican Republic | 0 | | | | Japan | 3 |
| | | | | | South Korea | 0 |

### Final
## Statistics leaders

* Only players whose teams advanced to the quarterfinals are ranked.
Best Scorers :
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Kim Yeon-koung | 207 |
| 2 | Destinee Hooker | 161 |
| 3 | Saori Kimura | 142 |
| 4 | Sheilla Castro | 140 |
| 5 | Ekaterina Gamova | 124 |
Best Spikers :
| Rank | Name | %Eff |
| 1 | Destinee Hooker | 37.93 |
| 2 | Simona Gioli | 37.78 |
| 3 | Kim Yeon-koung | 35.57 |
| 4 | Nataliya Goncharova | 34.22 |
| 5 | Ekaterina Gamova | 33.04 |
Best Blockers :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Fabiana Claudino | 0.94 |
| 2 | Foluke Akinradewo | 0.93 |
| 3 | Simona Gioli | 0.91 |
| 4 | Destinee Hooker | 0.78 |
| 5 | Thaísa Menezes | 0.75 |
Best Servers :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Sheilla Castro | 0.31 |
| 2 | Hui Ruoqi | 0.31 |
| 3 | Lucia Bosetti | 0.30 |
| 4 | Ekaterina Gamova | 0.29 |
| 5 | Antonella Del Core | 0.26 |
Best Diggers :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Brenda Castillo | 6.10 |
| 2 | Zhang Xian | 4.77 |
| 3 | Yuko Sano | 4.11 |
| 4 | Kim Hae-ran | 3.90 |
| 5 | Yoshie Takeshita | 3.64 |
Best Setters :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Yevgeniya Startseva | 12.79 |
| 2 | Wei Qiuyue | 12.08 |
| 3 | Yoshie Takeshita | 11.82 |
| 4 | Lindsey Berg | 9.74 |
| 5 | Danielle Lins | 9.72 |
Best Receivers :
| Rank | Name | %Succ |
| 1 | Fernanda Rodrigues | 81.32 |
| 2 | Svetlana Kryuchkova | 80.00 |
| 3 | Paola Croce | 77.88 |
| 4 | Antonella Del Core | 77.03 |
| 5 | Nicole Davis | 74.27 |
Source:

## Final standings

| Rank | Team |
| | Brazil |
| | United States |
| | Japan |
| 4 | South Korea |
| 5 | China |
| 5 | Dominican Republic |
| 5 | Italy |
| 5 | Russia |
| 9 | Great Britain |
| 9 | Turkey |
| 11 | Algeria |
| 11 | Serbia |
* 2012 Women's Olympic champions
* Brazil 2nd title
* 12-woman roster
* Fabiana Claudino (c), Dani Lins, Paula Pequeno, Adenízia da Silva, Thaísa Menezes, Jaqueline Carvalho, Fernanda Ferreira, Tandara Caixeta, Natália Pereira, Sheilla Castro, Fabi Alvim (L), Fernanda Garay
* Head coach
* Zé Roberto

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 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: Zé Roberto | 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 |

## Individual awards

* Most valuable player
    Kim Yeon-koung (KOR)
* Best scorer
    Kim Yeon-koung (KOR)
* Best spiker
    Destinee Hooker (USA)
* Best blocker
    Fabiana Claudino (BRA)
* Best server
    Sheilla Castro (BRA)
* Best setter
    Yevgeniya Startseva (RUS)
* Best receiver
    Fernanda Garay (BRA)
* Best libero
    Brenda Castillo (DOM)