Volleyball at the 1964 Summer Olympics

Dates 11 – 23 October 1964
Medal Events 2

Volleyball, like basketball, is a sport whose origin is known almost to the day. Oddly, both sports were invented at the same college and within a few years of one another. Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, a student at Springfield College and a director of the Y.M.C.A. at Holyoke, Massachusetts. The game was originally called “minionette.” Volleyball quickly spread around the world and became more popular in other countries than in the United States. The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) was formed in 1946, and World Championships began in 1949, the same year in which the sport was recognized by the IOC. The sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1964 by the Japanese, although it was never contested as a demonstration sport at the Olympics. However, a volleyball demonstration had been scheduled for 1952, but was cancelled. In addition, in 1924, a side event of volleyball for teenagers was conducted at the Paris Olympics. Volleyball was the first team sport for women to be added to the Olympics Program. It was fitting that this occurred in Tokyo because the women’s sport was very popular in Japan at the time.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Volleyball, Men Olympic 13 – 23 October 1964 111 10
Volleyball, Women Olympic 11 – 23 October 1964 68 6
179 (111/68) 11 (10/6)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Volleyball, Men Soviet UnionURS CzechoslovakiaTCH JapanJPN
Volleyball, Women JapanJPN Soviet UnionURS PolandPOL

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 1 1 0 2
Japan JPN 1 0 1 2
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 1 0 1
Poland POL 0 0 1 1