Volleyball is a game in which members of each of two opposing teams throw the ball with their hands over the net separating them, trying to prevent it from touching the ground on their side of the court. There are rules that govern both the gameplay itself and the parameters of the site. Thanks to these rules, volleyball is included in the programs of the Olympiads twice - as a game in the hall and its beach version.
This game appeared at the Olympiads not so long ago - it happened in 1964 at the XVIII Summer Games in Tokyo. That year, two tournaments were included in the competition program at once - male and female. Best of all for the Olympic debut were the national teams of the hosts of the competition and the Soviet Union. Japanese girls became the first volleyball champions in the history of the games, and athletes from the USSR received silver medals. For men, the Soviet team was the strongest, and the Japanese took third place.
The achievements of the Soviet Union even now, two decades after the disappearance of this country, remain the highest in the history of Olympic volleyball tournaments - 12 awards have accumulated over seven Olympiads. The Japanese next to them in the general list won one third fewer medals. For the four tournaments held at the summer games for the Russians, they have never found themselves without awards, but neither the women's nor the men's team has yet been able to win gold.
Beach volleyball basically differs from playing in the hall by the coverage of the court (the game takes place on the sand), the smaller size of this court and the number of players in teams (two instead of six). It is more correct to call this kind of sport doubles, and not team, therefore the rules allow participation in Olympic tournaments for two pairs from each country.
In the history of the summer games, only four beach volleyball tournaments have been held so far, and not one of them did without representatives of Brazil on at least one of the podiums. In total, volleyball players from this country won nine medals, but due to the larger number of gold awards in the pivot table, US athletes are ahead of them. For Americans, out of seven medals, five have the highest dignity. There were no Russian representatives in this sport at the Olympic Games yet.
