# Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

The men's tournament in volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics was the 15th 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 Tokyo, Japan from 24 July to 7 August 2021. It was originally scheduled to take place from 25 July to 8 August 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced on 24 March 2020 that the 2020 Summer Olympics would be delayed to 2021. Because of this pandemic, all matches were played behind closed doors.
France won their first gold and overall medal with a 3–2 win over the Russian team that competed as the ROC. Argentina won the bronze medal in a narrow 3–2 victory over Brazil.
The medals for the competition were presented by Bernard Rajzman, IOC Member, Olympian, and Silver Medalist, Brazil; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Ary Graça, FIVB President; Brazil.

## Competition schedule

| P | Preliminary round | ¼ | Quarterfinals | ½ | Semifinals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Final |
| Sat 24 | Sun 25 | Mon 26 | Tue 27 | Wed 28 | Thu 29 | Fri 30 | Sat 31 | Sun 1 | Mon 2 | Tue 3 | Tue 3 | Wed 4 | Wed 4 | Thu 5 | Thu 5 | Fri 6 | Sat 7 | Sat 7 |
| P | | P | | P | | P | | P | | ¼ | ¼ | | | ½ | ½ | | B | F |

## Qualification

| Event | Event | Dates | Venue(s) | Quota | Qualifier(s) |
| Host nation | Host nation | — | — | 1 | Japan |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool A | 9–11 August 2019 | Varna | 1 | Brazil |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool B | 9–11 August 2019 | Rotterdam | 1 | United States |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool C | 9–11 August 2019 | Bari | 1 | Italy |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool D | 9–11 August 2019 | Gdańsk–Sopot | 1 | Poland |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool E | 9–11 August 2019 | Saint Petersburg | 1 | ROC |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool F | 9–11 August 2019 | Ningbo | 1 | Argentina |
| European Qualifier | European Qualifier | 5–10 January 2020 | Berlin | 1 | France |
| Asian Qualifier | Asian Qualifier | 7–12 January 2020 | Jiangmen | 1 | Iran |
| African Qualifier | African Qualifier | 7–11 January 2020 | Cairo | 1 | Tunisia |
| South American Qualifier | South American Qualifier | 10–12 January 2020 | Mostazal | 1 | Venezuela |
| North American Qualifier | North American Qualifier | 10–12 January 2020 | Vancouver | 1 | Canada |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 12 | |

## Format

The preliminary round was a competition between the twelve teams, who were divided into two pools of six teams. This round, the teams competed in a single round-robin format. The four highest ranked teams in each pool advanced to the knockout stage (quarterfinals).
The knockout stage followed the single-elimination format. The losers of the quarterfinals were eliminated. The quarterfinal winners played in the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals competed for gold medal and the losers played for bronze medal.

## Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 15 October 2019. 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 10th. The pools were confirmed on 31 January 2020.
| Pool A | Pool B |
| Japan (Hosts) | Brazil (1) |
| Poland (3) | United States (2) |
| Italy (4) | ROC (5) |
| Canada (7) | Argentina (6) |
| Iran (8) | France (9) |
| Venezuela (36) | Tunisia (22) |

## Venue

* All matches
* Tokyo, Japan
* Ariake Arena
* Capacity: 15,000

## Pool standing procedure

In order to establish the ranking of teams after the group stage, the following criteria should be implemented:
* Number of matches won
* Match points
* 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

## Referees

The following referees were selected for the tournament.
* Hernán Casamiquela
* Paulo Turci
* Liu Jiang
* Denny Cespedes
* Fabrice Collados
* Daniele Rapisarda
* Shin Muranaka
* Sumie Myoi
* Luis Macias
* Wojciech Maroszek
* Evgeny Makshanov
* Vladimir Simonović
* Juraj Mokrý
* Kang Joo-hee
* Susana Rodríguez
* Hamid Al-Rousi
* Patricia Rolf

## Preliminary round

* All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
* The top four teams in each pool qualified for the quarterfinals.

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Poland | 5 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 14 | 4 | 3.500 | 435 | 365 | 1.192 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Italy | 5 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 1.714 | 447 | 411 | 1.088 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Japan (H) | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 1.111 | 437 | 433 | 1.009 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Canada | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 1.000 | 396 | 387 | 1.023 | Quarterfinals |
| 5 | Iran | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 0.818 | 453 | 460 | 0.985 | |
| 6 | Venezuela | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 0.067 | 281 | 393 | 0.715 | |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | ROC | 5 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 2.600 | 427 | 397 | 1.076 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Brazil | 5 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 1.500 | 476 | 450 | 1.058 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Argentina | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 1.200 | 476 | 464 | 1.026 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | France | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 1.000 | 449 | 442 | 1.016 | Quarterfinals |
| 5 | United States | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 0.800 | 432 | 412 | 1.049 | |
| 6 | Tunisia | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 0.200 | 339 | 434 | 0.781 | |

## Knockout stage

* All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
* 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.

### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 3 August | 3 August | | | |
| Poland | 2 | | | |
| Poland | 2 | 5 August | 5 August | | |
| France | 3 | 5 August | 5 August | |
| France | 3 | France | 3 | |
| 3 August | 3 August | | France | 3 | |
| 3 August | 3 August | Argentina | 0 | |
| Italy | 2 | Argentina | 0 | |
| Italy | 2 | | | | 7 August | 7 August |
| Argentina | 3 | | | | 7 August | 7 August |
| Argentina | 3 | | | | France | 3 |
| 3 August | 3 August | | | | | France | 3 |
| 3 August | 3 August | | | | ROC | 2 |
| Japan | 0 | | | | ROC | 2 |
| Japan | 0 | 5 August | 5 August | | | |
| Brazil | 3 | 5 August | 5 August | | | |
| Brazil | 3 | Brazil | 1 | | | |
| 3 August | 3 August | | Brazil | 1 | | | |
| 3 August | 3 August | ROC | 3 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Canada | 0 | ROC | 3 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Canada | 0 | | | | 7 August | 7 August |
| ROC | 3 | | | | 7 August | 7 August |
| ROC | 3 | | | | Argentina | 3 |
| | | | | | Brazil | 2 |

### Gold medal match
## Final standing

| Rank | Team |
| | France |
| | ROC |
| | Argentina |
| 4 | Brazil |
| 5 | Poland |
| 6 | Italy |
| 7 | Japan |
| 8 | Canada |
| 9 | Iran |
| 10 | United States |
| 11 | Tunisia |
| 12 | Venezuela |
* 2020 Men's Olympic champions
* France First title
* 12–man Roster
* Barthélémy Chinenyeze, Jenia Grebennikov (L), Jean Patry, Benjamin Toniutti (c), Kévin Tillie, Earvin N'Gapeth, Antoine Brizard, Stéphen Boyer, Nicolas Le Goff, Daryl Bultor, Trévor Clévenot, Yacine Louati
* Head coach
* Laurent Tillie

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| France (FRA)Barthélémy Chinenyeze Jenia Grebennikov (L) Jean Patry Benjamin Toniutti (c) Kévin Tillie Earvin N'Gapeth Antoine Brizard Stéphen Boyer Nicolas Le Goff Daryl Bultor Trévor Clévenot Yacine LouatiHead coach: Laurent Tillie | ROCYaroslav Podlesnykh Artem Volvich Dmitry Volkov Ivan Iakovlev Denis Bogdan Pavel Pankov Viktor Poletaev Maxim Mikhaylov Egor Kliuka Ilyas Kurkaev Igor Kobzar (c) Valentin Golubev (L)Head coach: Tuomas Sammelvuo | Argentina (ARG)Matías Sánchez Federico Pereyra Cristian Poglajen Facundo Conte Agustín Loser Santiago Danani (L) Sebastián Solé Bruno Lima Ezequiel Palacios Luciano De Cecco (c) Nicolás Méndez Martín RamosHead coach: Marcelo Méndez |

## Awards

The awards were announced on 7 August 2021.
| Position | Player |
| Most valuable player | Earvin N'Gapeth |
| Setter | Luciano De Cecco |
| Outside hitters | Earvin N'Gapeth |
| Outside hitters | Egor Kliuka |
| Middle blockers | Ivan Iakovlev |
| Middle blockers | Barthélémy Chinenyeze |
| Opposite spiker | Maxim Mikhaylov |
| Libero | Jenia Grebennikov |

## Statistics leaders

* Only players whose teams advanced to the semifinals were ranked.
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Bruno Lima | 138 |
| 2 | Earvin N'Gapeth | 136 |
| 3 | Jean Patry | 135 |
| 4 | Maksim Mikhaylov | 130 |
| 5 | Facundo Conte | 125 |
| Rank | Name | %Eff |
| 1 | Jean Patry | 42.06 |
| 2 | Trévor Clévenot | 34.03 |
| 3 | Maksim Mikhaylov | 33.33 |
| 4 | Yoandy Leal | 33.16 |
| 5 | Ricardo Lucarelli | 32.37 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Ivan Iakovlev | 0.70 |
| 2 | Lucas Saatkamp | 0.66 |
| 3 | Agustín Loser | 0.63 |
| 4 | Barthélémy Chinenyeze | 0.61 |
| 4 | Nicolas Le Goff | 0.61 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Ricardo Lucarelli | 0.38 |
| 2 | Bruno Lima | 0.26 |
| 3 | Antoine Brizard | 0.24 |
| 4 | Egor Kliuka | 0.23 |
| 5 | Jean Patry | 0.21 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Thales Hoss | 2.25 |
| 2 | Jenia Grebennikov | 1.94 |
| 3 | Valentin Golubev | 1.73 |
| 4 | Santiago Danani | 1.66 |
| 5 | Bruno Rezende | 1.22 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Bruno Rezende | 10.78 |
| 2 | Luciano De Cecco | 10.34 |
| 3 | Igor Kobzar | 8.73 |
| 4 | Antoine Brizard | 7.09 |
| 5 | Benjamin Toniutti | 4.12 |
| Rank | Name | %Succ |
| 1 | Thales Hoss | 73.15 |
| 2 | Santiago Danani | 67.08 |
| 3 | Egor Kliuka | 66.67 |
| 4 | Trévor Clévenot | 64.74 |
| 5 | Facundo Conte | 62.56 |
Source: Olympics.com