ChineseLang Ping was the first player to win gold medals as player and coach, as part of theLos Angeles 1984 People's Republic of China squad and leading theRio 2016 team (she also led theUnited States' women to the silver in 2008).[1]
Volleyball is one of thesports that is played at theSummer Olympic Games in two disciplines: the traditional six-per-side indoor game, and the newer game ofbeach volleyball. Indoor volleyball was added to the Olympic programme in 1957 at the53rd session of theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) inSofia, Bulgaria, and the first competitions were held at the1964 Summer Olympics inTokyo.[2] The Soviet Union won a medal in both the men's and women's competition at the first five Olympics that included volleyball, including the men's gold medal in Tokyo. The Japanese women's team won the gold at the inaugural Olympic volleyball competition, and the silver at the following two Games. TheMontreal Games of 1976 saw the Polish men win the nation's only gold medal in the sport, after the women had won bronze in 1964 and 1968. At the1980 Moscow Olympics, the hosts won gold in both competitions. The Bulgarian team won their only two volleyball medals in Moscow, a silver and a bronze in the men's and women's tournament, respectively.[3][4] The United States won its first medals in volleyball at the Los Angeles Games: a gold in the men's competition, and a silver in the women's.[5][6] The People's Republic of China won the gold medal in the women's competition in Los Angeles, their first time participating in an Olympic volleyball competition.[7] The United States successfully defended their men's gold medal at the1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, andPeru won their only medal in volleyball, a silver in the women's competition. The Soviet Union won a silver medal in the men's competition and a gold in the women's at what would be their final Olympics.[8] Following the 1990–91breakup of the Soviet Union, 12 of the 15 newly independent countries competed together as theUnified Team inBarcelona.[9] In the women's competition, the Unified Team won the silver medal, and Cuba won their first of three consecutive gold medals. In the men's competition, Brazil won its first gold medal, and the Netherlands its first overall medal in the sport.
On 18 September 1993, at the 101st IOC session inMonte Carlo, the Committee voted to add beach volleyball for both men and women to the Olympic programme effective with the1996 Atlanta Games.[2] ANational Olympic Committee is permitted to enter two teams in the beach volleyball tournament; a rule that allowed the United States and Brazil to win both gold and silver in men's and women's beach volleyball respectively that year.[10][11] Atlanta also saw the Dutch men's indoor team improve their Barcelona silver to a gold. At the2000 Sydney Olympics, the host Australian team won the gold medal in the women's beach volleyball competition, and the Russian Federation took home its first volleyball medals as an independent country with silver in both indoor competitions. At the2004 Athens Olympics, Spain won its only medal in volleyball, a silver in the men's beach volleyball competition. In women's beach volleyball, the United States team ofMisty May (now May-Treanor) andKerri Walsh (now Walsh Jennings) won the first of three consecutive gold medals, the only team to defend a beach volleyball gold medal. At the2008 Beijing Olympics, the United States men's indoor team won all their matches on the way to their third gold medal win. This equalled the former Soviet Union's record for the most men's championships.[12] The Soviets won twelve medals in the indoor competition, and Brazilian teams have won thirteen medals in beach competition; respectively the most in each discipline. The Brazilian teams, however, with ten indoor medals lead all nations with a total of twenty medals in volleyball events at the Olympics.[13][14]
Six athletes have each won four medals in volleyball. CubanAna Fernández and AmericanKerri Walsh Jennings each have three gold and one bronze,[nb 1] SovietInna Ryskal and BrazilianSérgio Santos have two gold and two silver medals, RussianSergey Tetyukhin has one gold, one silver, and two bronzes, and ItalianSamuele Papi has two silvers and two bronzes. Ten athletes have won three gold medals. Seven, including Fernández, were members of the Cuban women's indoor team that won consecutive golds in 1992, 1996 and 2000. May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings, as noted above, won beach volleyball gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012. The other isKarch Kiraly, who won gold with the United States men's indoor team in 1984 and 1988 and in beach volleyball in 1996. Kiraly is the only player of either gender to win medals in both indoor and beach volleyball.[15] Kiraly is also one of four people that have won medals both as a player and coach.[16] Apart from May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings of the United States,Ricardo Santos andEmanuel Rego of Brazil are the only athletes with three medals in beach volleyball. They have one gold and one bronze as a team, and each has one silver with other partners.
BrazilianAmauri Ribeiro won silver in 1984 and gold in 1992.A bronze medalist in 1988, ArgentineDaniel Castellani later coached thePolish men's national team.[17]BrazilianSérgio Santos is the only player to reach four straight finals, winning two.Luigi Mastrangelo has won three medals with the Italian team.Aleksey Kuleshov is a three-time medalist for Russia.RussianSergey Tetyukhin finished in the final four in five straight tournaments, missing a medal only in 2016.ItalianSamuele Papi is one of three men, along with Santos and Tetyukhin, to win four volleyball medals.
Regla Torres won three straight gold medals with Cuba.Lioubov Kılıç, twice a silver medalist for RussiaTwo-time silver medalistYekaterina GamovaChrista Harmotto won a silver medal and a bronze with the United States.Erika Araki won a bronze medal with the Japanese team in 2012.Taismary Agüero won two gold medals with Cuba, before participating in 2008 with the Italian team.[53]Hélia Souza has won three medals, and has participated in five Olympics for Brazil.Stacy Sykora returns a ball during a warm-up match preceding the 2008 Olympics.
Todd Rogers (left) andPhil Dalhausser (right), gold medalists in 2008, pose withGeorge W. Bush at the Beijing Olympics.Emanuel Rego appeared in the first five beach volleyball tournaments, winning three medals.
Misty May-Treanor (left) andKerri Walsh Jennings (right) are the only women's team to earn multiple (3) gold medals in beach volleyball.Natalie Cook, winner of a gold and a bronze, is the first Australian woman to compete at five Olympic Games.[83]
Bernardo Rezende won a silver medal as part of the Brazilian team in 1984, and went on to coach both the men and women to six straight medals.[89]
Only four volleyball players won medals and then coached indoor teams to the podium. Aside fromLang Ping, who led theUnited States' women to the silver in 2008, all were managers of their own country's team.[16]
^abcAlthough Sports-Reference does not list Ana Fernández among the medalists in 1992, her name is contained in the International Olympic Committee's database and the Official Report of the Barcelona Olympics as having won a gold medal with the Cuban team in 1992.[65] For her medals in 1996, 2000, and 2004 no such disagreement exists.
2. Several of the names listed here are spelled differently from in the corresponding Wikipedia article. This article follows the spelling given in the IOC's database of medal winners.
3. Some Brazilian players are better known by theirapelidos (nicknames) than their birth names, and may have Wikipedia articles at those locations instead of their birth names.
^Cheporov, Edgar (7 August 1980). "U.S. Boycott Did No Harm to the 1980 Moscow Olympics".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Block Communications.
^Burns, John (9 May 1984). "Moscow Will Keep its Team from Los Angeles Olympics".The New York Times. p. A1.
^"U.S. Wins Volleyball".The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec: Southam Inc. 13 August 1984.Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved9 July 2010.
^Bock, Hal (8 August 1984)."Tears Flow for American Spikers".The Dispatch. Lexington, NC: The New York Times Company.Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved9 July 2010.
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