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

The men's tournament in volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics was the 13th edition of the event at the Summer Olympics, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in London, United Kingdom from 29 July to 12 August 2012.
Russia won the gold medal in a 3–2 victory against Brazil.

## Qualification

| 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 | |

## Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 4 January 2012. FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as head of pool A regardless of the World Ranking. Rankings are shown in brackets except the hosts who ranked 92nd.
| Pool A | Pool B |
| Great Britain (Hosts) | Brazil (1) |
| Italy (3) | Russia (2) |
| Poland (4) | United States (6) |
| Argentina (8) | Serbia (7) |
| Bulgaria (9) | Germany (13) |
| Australia (22) | Tunisia (18) |

## Venue

* All matches
* London, United Kingdom
* Earls Court Exhibition Centre
* Capacity: 20,000

## Pool standing procedure

* Match points
* Number of matches won
* Sets ratio
* Points ratio
* Result of the last match between the tied teams
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

## Preliminary round

* All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00).
* The top four teams in each pool qualified for the quarterfinals.
* Qualified for the Quarterfinals

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR |
| 1 | Bulgaria | 5 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 3.250 | 407 | 390 | 1.044 |
| 2 | Poland | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 1.571 | 433 | 374 | 1.158 |
| 3 | Argentina | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 1.429 | 382 | 367 | 1.041 |
| 4 | Italy | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 1.111 | 426 | 413 | 1.031 |
| 5 | Australia | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 0.800 | 395 | 397 | 0.995 |
| 6 | Great Britain | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0.000 | 274 | 376 | 0.729 |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR |
| 1 | United States | 5 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 14 | 4 | 3.500 | 427 | 370 | 1.154 |
| 2 | Brazil | 5 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 2.600 | 418 | 379 | 1.103 |
| 3 | Russia | 5 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 5 | 2.400 | 408 | 352 | 1.159 |
| 4 | Germany | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 0.545 | 379 | 388 | 0.977 |
| 5 | Serbia | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 0.538 | 413 | 455 | 0.908 |
| 6 | Tunisia | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 0.067 | 294 | 395 | 0.744 |

## Final round

* All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00).
* The first ranked teams of both pools played against the fourth ranked teams of the other pool. The second ranked teams faced the second or third ranked teams of the other pool, determined by drawing of lots. The drawing of lots was held after the last match in the preliminary round.
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 8 August | 8 August | | | |
| Bulgaria | 3 | | | |
| Bulgaria | 3 | 10 August | 10 August | | |
| Germany | 0 | 10 August | 10 August | |
| Germany | 0 | Bulgaria | 1 | |
| 8 August | 8 August | | Bulgaria | 1 | |
| 8 August | 8 August | Russia | 3 | |
| Poland | 0 | Russia | 3 | |
| Poland | 0 | | | | 12 August | 12 August |
| Russia | 3 | | | | 12 August | 12 August |
| Russia | 3 | | | | Russia | 3 |
| 8 August | 8 August | | | | | Russia | 3 |
| 8 August | 8 August | | | | Brazil | 2 |
| Argentina | 0 | | | | Brazil | 2 |
| Argentina | 0 | 10 August | 10 August | | | |
| Brazil | 3 | 10 August | 10 August | | | |
| Brazil | 3 | Brazil | 3 | | | |
| 8 August | 8 August | | Brazil | 3 | | | |
| 8 August | 8 August | Italy | 0 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| United States | 0 | Italy | 0 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| United States | 0 | | | | 12 August | 12 August |
| Italy | 3 | | | | 12 August | 12 August |
| Italy | 3 | | | | Bulgaria | 1 |
| | | | | | Italy | 3 |

### Gold medal match
## Final standing

| Rank | Team |
| | Russia |
| | Brazil |
| | Italy |
| 4 | Bulgaria |
| 5 | Argentina |
| 5 | Germany |
| 5 | Poland |
| 5 | United States |
| 9 | Australia |
| 9 | Serbia |
| 11 | Great Britain |
| 11 | Tunisia |
* 2012 Men's Olympic champions
* Russia 1st title
* 12–man roster
* Apalikov, Khtey (c), Grankin, Tetyukhin, Sokolov, Berezhko, Butko, Muserskiy, Ilinikh, Mikhaylov, Volkov, Obmochaev
* Head coach
* Alekno

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Russia (RUS)Nikolay Apalikov Taras Khtey (c) Sergey Grankin Sergey Tetyukhin Aleksandr Sokolov Yury Berezhko Aleksandr Butko Dmitriy Muserskiy Dmitriy Ilinikh Maksim 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: Bernardinho | Italy (ITA)Luigi Mastrangelo Simone Parodi Samuele Papi Michal Lasko Ivan Zaytsev Dante Boninfante Cristian Savani (c) Dragan Travica Alessandro Fei Emanuele Birarelli Andrea Bari Andrea Giovi Head coach: Mauro Berruto |

## Awards

* Most valuable player
    Murilo Endres
* Best scorer
    Maksim Mikhaylov
* Best spiker
    Maksim Mikhaylov
* Best blocker
    Max Gunthor
* Best server
    Cristian Savani
* Best digger
    Teodor Salparov
* Best setter
    Georgi Bratoev
* Best receiver
    Krzysztof Ignaczak
* Best libero
    Markus Steuerwald