The 1996 women's Olympic volleyball tournament was the ninth edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB in conjunction with the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

. It was held from 20 July to 3 August 1996 at the

Stegeman Coliseum Stegeman Coliseum, formerly known as Georgia Coliseum, is a 10,523-seat multi-purpose arena in Athens, Georgia, United States. The arena opened in 1964 in honor of Herman Stegeman. It is home to the University of Georgia Bulldogs basketball and ...

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in Athens, Georgia and at the

Omni Coliseum Omni Coliseum (often called The Omni) was an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for ice hockey, hockey. It was part of the Omni Complex, now known as the CNN Cente ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. 12 teams competed, up from eight in 1992.

Qualification

Format

In 1991, the International Olympic Committee alongside the FIVB decided to increase the number of countries participating in the women's volleyball tournament at the Summer Olympic Games from 8 to 12 and thus equalize the number of athletes in the two tournaments.As the men's event, the tournament was played in two different stages. In the (first stage), the twelve participants were divided into two pools of six teams. A

single round-robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

format was played within each pool to determine the teams position in the pool. The four highest ranked teams in each pool advanced to the (second stage) and the two lowest ranked teams took no further participation (with pool places 5th and 6th being ranked in the final standings as joined 9th ad 11th, respectively). The was played in a single elimination format, with placement matches determining the top eight positions. Starting at the quarterfinals, winners advanced to the semifinals while losers advanced to the placement matches (5th–8th semifinal).

Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the

Serpentine system The serpentine system, also known as snake seeding, is a method of organization used in competitions to define the seeded teams and arrange them into pools. The ''n'' ranked teams that will be involved in the tournament are distributed in ''m'' ...

according to their

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

as of January 1996.

Rosters

Venues

* University of Georgia Coliseum,

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Preliminary round

Group A

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Group B

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Final round

Quarterfinals

5th–8th places

Semifinals

7th place match

5th place match

1st–4th places

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Final standings

Medalists

Individual awards

*Most valuable player *: *Best spiker *: *Best blocker *: *Best server *: *Best digger *: *Best setter *: *Best receiver *:

Statistics Leaders

Best scorers Best attackers Best blockers Best servers Best diggers Best setters Best receivers

Dream Team

*SETTER *: *Outside Hitters *: *: *MIDDLE BLOCKERS *: *: *OPPOSITE SPIKER *:

References

External links

ResultsFinal standings (1964–2000) at FIVB.orgOfficial results
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