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

The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics was the 15th edition of the event at an Olympic Games, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in Tokyo, Japan from 25 July to 8 August 2021. It was originally scheduled to take place from 26 July to 9 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, the games were played behind closed doors.
The United States won their first gold after finishing runners-up three times with a 3–0 win over Brazil. Serbia won the bronze medal with a victory over South Korea.
The medals for the competition were presented by Nenad Lalović, IOC Executive Board Member; Serbia, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Ary Graça, FIVB President; Brazil.

## Competition schedule

| P | Preliminary round | ¼ | Quarter-finals | ½ | Semi-finals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Gold medal match |
| Sun 25 | Mon 26 | Tue 27 | Wed 28 | Thu 29 | Fri 30 | Sat 31 | Sun 1 | Mon 2 | Tue 3 | Wed 4 | Wed 4 | Thu 5 | Thu 5 | Fri 6 | Fri 6 | Sat 7 | Sun 8 | Sun 8 |
| 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 | 1–4 August 2019 | Wrocław | 1 | Serbia |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool B | 1–4 August 2019 | Ningbo | 1 | China |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool C | 1–4 August 2019 | Bossier City | 1 | United States |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool D | 1–4 August 2019 | Uberlândia | 1 | Brazil |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool E | 1–4 August 2019 | Kaliningrad | 1 | ROC |
| Intercontinental Qualifier | Pool F | 1–4 August 2019 | Catania | 1 | Italy |
| African Qualifier | African Qualifier | 5–9 January 2020 | Yaoundé | 1 | Kenya |
| South American Qualifier | South American Qualifier | 7–9 January 2020 | Bogotá | 1 | Argentina |
| Asian Qualifier | Asian Qualifier | 7–12 January 2020 | Nakhon Ratchasima | 1 | South Korea |
| European Qualifier | European Qualifier | 7–12 January 2020 | Apeldoorn | 1 | Turkey |
| North American Qualifier | North American Qualifier | 10–12 January 2020 | Santo Domingo | 1 | Dominican Republic |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 12 | |

## Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 29 September 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 7th.
| Pool A | Pool B |
| Japan (Hosts) | China (1) |
| Serbia (3) | United States (2) |
| Brazil (4) | ROC (5) |
| South Korea (9) | Italy (8) |
| Dominican Republic (10) | Argentina (11) |
| Kenya (19) | Turkey (12) |

## Venue

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

## Format

The preliminary round was a competition between the twelve teams divided into two pools of six teams. The teams competed in a single round-robin format. The four highest ranked teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage (quarter-finals). The sixth placed teams in each pool were ranked eleventh in this competition. The fifth placed teams in each pool were ranked ninth.
The knockout stage followed the single-elimination format. The losers of the quarter-finals were eliminated and ranked fifth. The quarterfinal winners played in the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals competed for gold medals and the losers played for bronze medals.

## 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 quarter-finals.

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Brazil | 5 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 3 | 5.000 | 434 | 315 | 1.378 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Serbia | 5 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 4.333 | 381 | 313 | 1.217 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | South Korea | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 0.900 | 374 | 415 | 0.901 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Dominican Republic | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 1.000 | 411 | 406 | 1.012 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Japan (H) | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 0.500 | 378 | 395 | 0.957 | |
| 6 | Kenya | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0.000 | 242 | 376 | 0.644 | |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 5 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 1.714 | 418 | 401 | 1.042 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Italy | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 1.571 | 409 | 377 | 1.085 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Turkey | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 1.500 | 434 | 416 | 1.043 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | ROC | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 1.375 | 422 | 378 | 1.116 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | China | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0.889 | 374 | 385 | 0.971 | |
| 6 | Argentina | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0.000 | 275 | 375 | 0.733 | |

## Knockout stage

* 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. As it happened at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the drawing ended up with the 2nd ranked teams facing each other, and the 3rd ranked teams playing against each other.

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 4 August | 4 August | | | |
| Brazil | 3 | | | |
| Brazil | 3 | 6 August | 6 August | | |
| ROC | 1 | 6 August | 6 August | |
| ROC | 1 | Brazil | 3 | |
| 4 August | 4 August | | Brazil | 3 | |
| 4 August | 4 August | South Korea | 0 | |
| South Korea | 3 | South Korea | 0 | |
| South Korea | 3 | | | | 8 August | 8 August |
| Turkey | 2 | | | | 8 August | 8 August |
| Turkey | 2 | | | | Brazil | 0 |
| 4 August | 4 August | | | | | Brazil | 0 |
| 4 August | 4 August | | | | United States | 3 |
| United States | 3 | | | | United States | 3 |
| United States | 3 | 6 August | 6 August | | | |
| Dominican Republic | 0 | 6 August | 6 August | | | |
| Dominican Republic | 0 | United States | 3 | | | |
| 4 August | 4 August | | United States | 3 | | | |
| 4 August | 4 August | Serbia | 0 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Serbia | 3 | Serbia | 0 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Serbia | 3 | | | | 8 August | 8 August |
| Italy | 0 | | | | 8 August | 8 August |
| Italy | 0 | | | | South Korea | 0 |
| | | | | | Serbia | 3 |

### Semi-finals

Tandara Caixeta of Brazil was suspended from the semi-final match against South Korea after a positive out-of-competition drug test for Enobosarm.

### Gold medal match
## Statistics leaders

* Only players whose teams advanced to the semifinals are ranked.
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Tijana Bošković | 192 |
| 2 | Kim Yeon-koung | 136 |
| 3 | Fernanda Garay | 120 |
| 4 | Gabriela Guimarães | 106 |
| 5 | Jordan Larson | 91 |
| 5 | Michelle Bartsch-Hackley | 91 |
| Rank | Name | %Eff |
| 1 | Fernanda Garay | 41.40 |
| 2 | Tijana Bošković | 36.42 |
| 3 | Andrea Drews | 34.94 |
| 4 | Kim Yeon-koung | 31.99 |
| 5 | Gabriela Guimarães | 27.35 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Ana Carolina da Silva | 0.82 |
| 2 | Carol Gattaz | 0.79 |
| 3 | Foluke Akinradewo | 0.75 |
| 4 | Mina Popović | 0.72 |
| 5 | Haleigh Washington | 0.71 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Tijana Bošković | 0.48 |
| 2 | Maja Ognjenovic | 0.28 |
| 2 | Bianka Buša | 0.28 |
| 4 | Yeum Hye-seon | 0.27 |
| 5 | Carol Gattaz | 0.25 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Oh Ji-young | 3.10 |
| 2 | Justine Wong-Orantes | 2.93 |
| 2 | Camila Brait | 2.93 |
| 4 | Kim Yeon-koung | 2.77 |
| 5 | Silvija Popović | 2.44 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Maja Ognjenović | 9.76 |
| 2 | Jordyn Poulter | 8.82 |
| 3 | Yeum Hye-seon | 7.43 |
| 4 | Macris Carneiro | 6.54 |
| 5 | Roberta Ratzke | 5.43 |
| Rank | Name | %Succ |
| 1 | Justine Wong-Orantes | 74.45 |
| 2 | Gabriela Guimarães | 71.13 |
| 3 | Michelle Bartsch-Hackley | 70.59 |
| 4 | Jordan Larson | 68.35 |
| 5 | Bojana Milenković | 67.43 |

## Final standing

| Rank | Team |
| | United States |
| | Brazil |
| | Serbia |
| 4 | South Korea |
| 5 | Turkey |
| 6 | Italy |
| 7 | ROC |
| 8 | Dominican Republic |
| 9 | China |
| 10 | Japan |
| 11 | Argentina |
| 12 | Kenya |
* 2020 Women's Olympic champions
* United States 1st title
* 12–woman roster
* Micha Hancock, Jordyn Poulter, Justine Wong-Orantes (L), Jordan Larson (c), Annie Drews, Jordan Thompson, Michelle Bartsch-Hackley, Kim Hill, Foluke Akinradewo, Haleigh Washington, Kelsey Robinson, Chiaka Ogbogu
* Head coach
* Karch Kiraly

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| United States (USA)Micha Hancock Jordyn Poulter Justine Wong-Orantes (L) Jordan Larson (c) Annie Drews Jordan Thompson Michelle Bartsch-Hackley Kim Hill Foluke Akinradewo Haleigh Washington Kelsey Robinson Chiaka Ogbogu Head coach: Karch Kiraly | Brazil (BRA)Carol Gattaz Rosamaria Montibeller Macris Carneiro Roberta Ratzke Gabriela Guimarães Tandara Caixeta Natália Pereira (c) Ana Carolina da Silva Fe Garay Ana Cristina de Souza Camila Brait (L) Ana Beatriz Corrêa Head coach: Zé Roberto | Serbia (SRB)Bianka Buša Mina Popović Slađana Mirković Brankica Mihajlović Maja Ognjenović (c) Ana Bjelica Maja Aleksić Milena Rašić Silvija Popović (L) Tijana Bošković Bojana Milenković Jelena Blagojević Head coach: Zoran Terzić |

## Awards

The awards were announced on 8 August 2021.
| Position | Player |
| Most valuable player | Jordan Larson |
| Setter | Jordyn Poulter |
| Outside hitters | Jordan Larson |
| Outside hitters | Michelle Bartsch-Hackley |
| Middle blockers | Haleigh Washington |
| Middle blockers | Carol Gattaz |
| Opposite spiker | Tijana Bošković |
| Libero | Justine Wong-Orantes |