# Volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held at Capital Indoor Stadium and Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium from 9 to 23 August 2008.
The twelve competing teams were split equally into two pools of six teams. Each team played all other teams in their pool with the winning team gaining two points and the losing side earning one point. The top four teams from each pool progressed through to the quarterfinals. The rest of the tournament was a single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match held between the two semifinal losers.
A total of 38 matches were played: 15 in each group, four quarterfinals, two semifinals, one bronze medal match, and one gold medal match.
Brazil won its first gold by defeating United States in the final.
China won bronze by winning against Cuba.

## Competition schedule

| P | Preliminary round | ¼ | Quarterfinals | ½ | Semifinals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Final |
| Sat 9 | Sun 10 | Mon 11 | Tue 12 | Wed 13 | Thu 14 | Fri 15 | Sat 16 | Sun 17 | Mon 18 | Tue 19 | Tue 19 | Wed 20 | Wed 20 | Thu 21 | Thu 21 | Fri 22 | Sat 23 | Sat 23 |
| P | | P | | P | | P | | P | | ¼ | ¼ | | | ½ | ½ | | B | F |

## Qualification

| Means of qualification | Date | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host Country | 13 July 2001 | Moscow | 1 | China |
| 2007 FIVB Women's World Cup | 2–16 November 2007 | Japan | 3 | Italy Brazil United States |
| African Olympic Qualification Tournament | 22–26 January 2008 | Blida | 1 | Algeria |
| Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament* | 17–25 May 2008 | Tokyo | 1 | Kazakhstan |
| European Olympic Qualification Tournament | 15–20 January 2008 | Halle | 1 | Russia |
| North American Olympic Qualification Tournament | 17–22 December 2007 | Monterrey | 1 | Cuba |
| South American Olympic Qualification Tournament | 3–7 January 2008 | Lima | 1 | Venezuela |
| World Olympic Qualification Tournament | 17–25 May 2008 | Tokyo | 3 | Poland Serbia Japan |
| Total | | | 12 | |
* The Asian Olympic qualification tournament and the World Olympic Qualification Tournament are combined into one event. The top 3 teams at the tournament will qualify as the medallists of the World Olympic Qualification Tournament while the best Asian team outside the top 3 will qualify as the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament champion.

## Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their ranking as of January 2008.
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 |
| China (Hosts) | Brazil (1) |
| Cuba (3) | Italy (2) |
| United States (4) | Russia (5) |
| Japan (8) | Serbia (7) |
| Poland (9) | Kazakhstan (16) |
| Venezuela (29) | Algeria (21) |

## Roster
### Pool A

* China (roster)
* Cuba (roster)
* Japan (roster)
* Poland (roster)
* United States (roster)
* Venezuela (roster)

### Pool B

* Algeria (roster)
* Brazil (roster)
* Italy (roster)
* Kazakhstan (roster)
* Russia (roster)
* Serbia (roster)

## Preliminary round

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8).

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SPW | SPL | SPR | SW | SL | SR | Qualification |
| 1 | Cuba | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 426 | 371 | 1.148 | 15 | 3 | 5.000 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | United States | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 459 | 441 | 1.041 | 12 | 9 | 1.333 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | China | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 467 | 395 | 1.182 | 13 | 7 | 1.857 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Japan | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 381 | 389 | 0.979 | 7 | 11 | 0.636 | Quarterfinals |
| 5 | Poland | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 441 | 445 | 0.991 | 9 | 12 | 0.750 | |
| 6 | Venezuela | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 262 | 395 | 0.663 | 1 | 15 | 0.067 | |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SPW | SPL | SPR | SW | SL | SR | Qualification |
| 1 | Brazil | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 377 | 226 | 1.668 | 15 | 0 | MAX | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Italy | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 372 | 315 | 1.181 | 12 | 4 | 3.000 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Russia | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 353 | 312 | 1.131 | 10 | 6 | 1.667 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Serbia | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 343 | 349 | 0.983 | 6 | 10 | 0.600 | Quarterfinals |
| 5 | Kazakhstan | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 323 | 404 | 0.800 | 4 | 13 | 0.308 | |
| 6 | Algeria | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 230 | 392 | 0.587 | 1 | 15 | 0.067 | |

## Knockout stage

The first four teams in each Preliminary Round pool advanced to the quarterfinals, eight teams in total. The format was as follows: A1 vs. B4 (first place in pool A vs. fourth place in pool B) B1 vs. A4 A drawing of lots determined the pairings among A2/A3 and B2/B3. The purpose of this drawing was to prevent a second-place team in a pool from deliberately losing the last game in pool play in order to select an "easier" opponent (in the sense of matchups) in the quarterfinals.
Based on a drawing of lots after the group stage, the United States faced and defeated Italy, while China drew and won against Russia in their quarterfinal matches. The other quarterfinal match-ups were determined by the pool standings. Brazil (pool B winner) played Japan (pool A 4th place). Cuba (pool A winner) played play Serbia (pool B 4th place). Both top seeds went on to defeat their opponents 3–0, thus reaching the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Brazil defeated the host nation and defending champion China, while the United States defeated Cuba. Both semifinal matches were won 3–0.
In the final, Brazil, for the first time in the tournament, lost a set but was able to win the next two sets from the United States to claim the match and the gold medal. In the third-place match, China defeated Cuba for the bronze medal.

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 19 August | 19 August | | | |
| Cuba | 3 | | | |
| Cuba | 3 | 21 August | 21 August | | |
| Serbia | 0 | 21 August | 21 August | |
| Serbia | 0 | Cuba | 0 | |
| 19 August | 19 August | | Cuba | 0 | |
| 19 August | 19 August | United States | 3 | |
| United States | 3 | United States | 3 | |
| United States | 3 | | | | 23 August | 23 August |
| Italy | 2 | | | | 23 August | 23 August |
| Italy | 2 | | | | United States | 1 |
| 19 August | 19 August | | | | | United States | 1 |
| 19 August | 19 August | | | | Brazil | 3 |
| China | 3 | | | | Brazil | 3 |
| China | 3 | 21 August | 21 August | | | |
| Russia | 0 | 21 August | 21 August | | | |
| Russia | 0 | China | 0 | | | |
| 19 August | 19 August | | China | 0 | | | |
| 19 August | 19 August | Brazil | 3 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Japan | 0 | Brazil | 3 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Japan | 0 | | | | 23 August | 23 August |
| Brazil | 3 | | | | 23 August | 23 August |
| Brazil | 3 | | | | Cuba | 1 |
| | | | | | China | 3 |
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).

### Award ceremony

* 21:50, 23 August 2008

## Statistics leaders

* Only players whose teams advanced to the quarterfinals are ranked.
Best Scorers :
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Logan Tom | 124 |
| 2 | Sheilla Castro | 109 |
| 3 | Rosir Calderon | 106 |
| 4 | Yumilka Ruiz | 103 |
| 5 | Tayyiba Haneef-Park | 102 |
Best Spikers :
| Rank | Name | %Eff |
| 1 | Rosir Calderon | 42.58 |
| 2 | Nancy Carrillo | 41.13 |
| 3 | Yumilka Ruiz | 40.86 |
| 4 | Paula Pequeno | 39.13 |
| 5 | Jelena Nikolic | 35.00 |
Best Blockers :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Erika Araki | 0.86 |
| 2 | Ekaterina Gamova | 0.84 |
| 2 | Fabiana Claudino | 0.84 |
| 2 | Paula Pequeno | 0.84 |
| 2 | Sheilla Castro | 0.84 |
Best Servers :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Yanelis Santos | 0.61 |
| 2 | Jovana Brakocevic | 0.53 |
| 3 | Taismary Aguero | 0.48 |
| 4 | Marianne Steinbrecher | 0.40 |
| 5 | Erika Araki | 0.38 |
Best Diggers :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Paola Cardullo | 3.38 |
| 2 | Yuko Sano | 3.29 |
| 3 | Fabiana de Oliveira | 3.24 |
| 4 | Suzana Cebic | 3.21 |
| 5 | Nicole Davis | 2.88 |
Best Setters :
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Helia Souza | 7.28 |
| 2 | Maja Ognjenovic | 6.58 |
| 3 | Yoshie Takeshita | 6.10 |
| 4 | Eleonora Lo Bianco | 5.90 |
| 5 | Robyn Ah Mow-Santos | 3.70 |
Best Receivers :
| Rank | Name | %Succ |
| 1 | Francesca Piccinini | 61.00 |
| 2 | Jelena Nikolic | 59.44 |
| 3 | Yuko Sano | 77.88 |
| 4 | Antonella Del Core | 57.27 |
| 5 | Marianne Steinbrecher | 56.25 |
Source:

## Final standings

| Place | Team |
| | Brazil |
| | United States |
| | China |
| 4 | Cuba |
| 5 | Italy |
| 5 | Japan |
| 5 | Russia |
| 5 | Serbia |
| 9 | Kazakhstan |
| 9 | Poland |
| 11 | Algeria |
| 11 | Venezuela |
* 2008 Women's Olympic champions
* Brazil 1st title
* 12–woman roster
* Oliveira, Albuquerque, Steinbrecher, Pequeno, Menezes, Hélia Souza (c), Menezes, Claudino, Gonzaga, Carvalho, Castro, Fabiana de Oliveira (L)
* Head coach
* Zé Roberto

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Brazil (BRA)Walewska Oliveira Carolina Albuquerque Marianne Steinbrecher Paula Pequeno Thaisa Menezes Hélia Souza (c) Valeska Menezes Fabiana Claudino Welissa Gonzaga Jaqueline Carvalho Sheilla Castro Fabiana de Oliveira (L) Head coach: Zé Roberto | United States (USA)Ogonna Nnamani Danielle Scott-Arruda Tayyiba Haneef-Park Lindsey Berg Stacy Sykora (L) Nicole Davis (L) Heather Bown Jennifer Joines Kim Glass Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (c) Kim Willoughby Logan Tom Head coach: Jenny Lang Ping | China (CHN)Wang Yimei Feng Kun (c) Yang Hao Liu Yanan Wei Qiuyue Xu Yunli Zhou Suhong Zhao Ruirui Xue Ming Li Juan Zhang Na (L) Ma Yunwen Head coach: Chen Zhonghe |

## Individual awards

* Most valuable player
    Paula Pequeno (BRA)
* Best scorer
    Logan Tom (USA)
* Best spiker
    Rosir Calderón (CUB)
* Best blocker
    Erika Araki (JPN)
* Best server
    Yanelis Santos (CUB)
* Best setter
    Hélia Souza (BRA)
* Best digger
    Zhang Na (CHN)
* Best receiver
    Zhou Suhong (CHN)
* Best libero
    Fabiana de Oliveira (BRA)
* Fair Play Award:
    Zhao Ruirui (CHN)
* Most popular player:
    Feng Kun (CHN)