| | Event type

Volleyball, Men

Date	17 September – 2 October 1988
Status	Olympic
Location	Jam-sil Che-yuk-gwan, Seoul Sports Complex, Seoul / Che-yuk-gwan, Han-yang Dae-hak-gyo, Seoul / Saemaul Sports Hall, Seoul
Participants	143 from 12 countries
Format	Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches.

The teams qualified as follows: defending Olympic Champion (United States), World Cup Champion (USSR, replacing the United States), 1986 World Champion (Bulgaria, replacing the United States and Soviet Union), host nation (Korea), Africa Champion (Tunisia), Asia Champion (Japan), North America Champion (Cuba), European Champion (France, replacing the Soviet Union and Bulgaria), South America Champion (Brazil). Three qualifying tournaments were held, in Brazil (Argentina), Netherlands (Netherlands) and Italy (Sweden). Italy was added when Cuba boycotted the Games.

By 1988, the United States was the dominant team in the world, coached by Marv Dunphy. They had won the 1984 Olympics, the 1986 World Championships, and the 1987 Pan-American Games. They were led by Karch Kiraly, considered the best volleyball player in the world, and Steve Timmons, a 1.95 [6-5] spiker/blocker. Unlike 1984, they would be challenged by the Soviet Union, which had won the last nine European Championships. Before the Olympics they had played nine matches in World Cup play, with the US winning seven. In pool play, the US came thru undefeated while the Soviets lost the tough Brazilians in five sets. The US had been in trouble against Argentina in the pool, trailing by two sets, when Jeff Stork took control in the third set, smashing 11 points to win the set, and the US then went on to win in five sets. The US had to play Brazil in the semis, but crushed them in three sets, 15-3, 15-5, 15-11, proving their superiority. In the final, the US played the USSR, and the Soviets won the first set, 15-13. But after that the US pulled away and won in four sets. The USA was the first team to win back-to-back Olympic volleyball gold medals since the Soviet Union had won the first two gold medals in 1964-68. Argentina won the bronze medal, upsetting Brazil in five sets, and a 3 hour, 10 minute marathon match.

Pos	Nr	Team	NOC	W	L	Pts	Sets	Points	Games	Points	Side Outs	Service Points	Spike Points	Block Points	Serves	Spikes	Blocks	Digs	Sets	Receptions
1		United States	USA	7	0	14	21–4	366–211	–	14	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Gold
	1	Troy Tanner							6	1	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Dave Saunders							4	14	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Jon Root							3	4	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Bob Ctvrtlik							7	48	79	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Doug Partie							7	40	62	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Steve Timmons							7	89	124	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Craig Buck							6	48	72	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Scott Fortune							6	13	13	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Ricci Luyties							4	7	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Jeff Stork							5	21	28	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Eric Sato							7	7	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Karch Kiraly							7	65	99	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Marvin Dunphy
2		Soviet Union	URS	5	2	12	18–7	332–282	–	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Silver
	1	Yuriy Panchenko							3	15	22	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Andrey Kuznetsov							7	44	68	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Vyacheslav Zaytsev							5	3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Igor Runov							4	2	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Vladimir Shkurikhin							7	34	61	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Yevgeny Krasilnikov							1	1	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Raimonds Vilde							6	56	67	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Valery Losev							7	27	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Yury Sapega							4	22	61	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Oleksandr Sorokalet							7	37	109	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Yaroslav Antonov							7	53	128	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Yury Cherednik							4	17	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Vladimir Kondra
3		Argentina	ARG	4	3	11	14–12	315–317	–	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Bronze
	1	Claudio Zulianello							6	1	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Daniel Castellani							7	39	76	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Eduardo Martínez							7	38	84	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Alejandro Diz							6	5	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Daniel Colla							2	2	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Carlos Weber							5	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Hugo Conte							7	56	156	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Waldo Kantor							7	19	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Raúl Quiroga							6	61	137	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Jon Emili Uriarte							7	57	78	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	José De Palma							7	10	24	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Juan Carlos Cuminetti							5	4	19	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Luis Muchaga
4		Brazil	BRA	4	3	11	16–13	374–342	–	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Maurício							6	4	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Wagner Rocha							1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Paulo Roese							7	3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Montanaro							7	48	118	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Paulão							7	40	50	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Renan							7	78	156	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	William							7	23	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Amauri							7	34	54	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Carlão							7	72	142	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Domingos Maracanã							6	24	20	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Leonídio de Pra							7	18	32	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Pampa							5	24	73	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Paulo Freitas
5		Netherlands	NED	5	2	12	16–9	314–272	–	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Martin Teffer							3	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Pieter Jan Leeuwerink							4	1	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Ron Boudrie							6	2	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Jan Posthuma							7	63	55	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Ronald Zoodsma							7	68	103	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Ron Zwerver							7	56	166	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Avital Selinger							3	1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Edwin Benne							7	56	97	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Teun Buijs							5	2	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Peter Blangé							7	40	28	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Marco Brouwers							4	3	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Rob Grabert							7	50	67	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Arie Selinger	ISR
6		Bulgaria	BUL	3	4	10	10–12	259–270	–	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Konstantin Mitev							2	0	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Petyo Dragiev							7	30	30	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Borislav Kyosev							7	42	84	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Lyubomir Ganev							7	51	149	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Iliyan Kaziyski							5	1	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Dimo Tonev							7	43	52	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Petko Petkov							6	13	27	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Plamen Khristov							7	31	19	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Sava Kovachev							4	9	22	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Nayden Naydenov							6	22	47	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Milcho Milanov							4	2	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Tsvetan Florov							4	2	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Todor Piterkov
7		Sweden	SWE	3	4	10	14–16	350–388	–	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Urban Lennartsson							6	12	23	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Jannis Kalmazidis							4	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Jan Hedengård							7	18	19	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Mats Karlsson							5	9	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Tomas Hoszek							7	8	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Per-Anders Sääf							7	54	62	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Bengt Gustafson							7	78	166	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Håkan Björne							7	44	136	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Lars Nilsson							7	43	88	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Peter Tholse							7	45	60	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Patrik Johansson							6	3	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Anders Lundmark (DNS)							–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Anders Kristiansson
8		France	FRA	3	4	10	12–13	312–300	–	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Philippe Blain							7	38	85	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Jean-Baptiste Martzluff							4	1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Hervé Mazzon							6	19	44	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Éric N'Gapeth							6	16	36	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Éric Bouvier							7	62	170	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Christophe Meneau							6	7	43	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Jean-Marc Jurkovitz							7	38	59	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Laurent Tillie							7	53	101	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Olivier Rossard							7	1	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Patrick Duflos							2	1	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Alain Fabiani							7	14	15	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Philippe-Marie Salvan							3	1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Éric Daniel
9		Italy	ITA	4	3	11	13–13	318–290	–	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Andrea Gardini							7	38	68	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Andrea Giani							7	35	41	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Pier Paolo Lucchetta							6	8	23	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Ferdinando De Giorgi							7	12	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Marco Bracci							3	1	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Claudio Galli							7	27	41	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Lorenzo Bernardi							6	1	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Alessandro Lazzeroni							6	2	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Massimo Castagna							7	45	70	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Andrea Zorzi							7	85	148	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Luca Cantagalli							7	45	84	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Andrea Lucchetta							1	1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Carmelo Pittera
10		Japan	JPN	2	5	9	10–17	305–346	–	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Yuji Kasama							7	10	14	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Akihiro Iwashima							7	26	63	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Yasunori Kumada							7	30	55	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Eizaburo Mitsuhashi							7	41	106	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Masayoshi Manabe							7	14	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Kazutomo Yoneyama							7	10	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Hiromichi Kageyama							6	33	79	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Hideharu Hara							4	2	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Kimio Sugimoto							4	8	17	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Yuzuru Inoue							7	40	116	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Masaki Kaito							3	2	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Shunichi Kawai							7	42	82	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Kazuya Mitake
11		Republic of Korea	KOR	2	5	9	10–17	306–355	–	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Choi Cheon-Sik							7	33	74	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Lee Sang-Yeol							7	46	102	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Jang Yun-Chang							7	42	118	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Han Jang-Seok							5	18	28	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Lee Seong-Hui							2	0	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Kim Sa-Seok							7	11	20	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Park Sam-Ryong							3	0	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Lee Myeong-Hak							6	13	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Kim Ho-Cheol							7	14	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Lee Chae-On							4	6	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Lee Jong-Gyeong							7	22	65	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Jeong Ui-Tak							7	41	47	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Lee Kyu-So
12		Tunisia	TUN	0	7	7	0–21	137–315	–	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	1	Faycal Ben Amara							4	1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Mohamed Sarsar							2	3	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Rashid Bousarsar							7	5	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Lotfi Ben Slimane							1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Msaddak Lahmar							6	25	112	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Hedi Bousarsar							7	16	53	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Abderrazak Ben Massaoud							6	8	40	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Raouf Chenoufi							7	11	28	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Hichem Ben Amira							1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Mourad Tebourski							7	16	43	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Abdel Aziz Ben Abdallah							7	26	82	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Fethi Ghariani							5	1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Hubert Wagner	POL

Preliminary Round (17 – 26 September 1988)

Group A (17 – 26 September 1988)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	NOC	W	L	Pts	Sets	Points
1	URS	4	1	9	14–4	248–190
2	BRA	4	1	9	14–7	296–225
3	SWE	2	3	7	9–11	220–262
4	BUL	2	3	7	7–9	190–194
5	ITA	2	3	7	7–11	203–222
6	KOR	1	4	6	5–14	200–264

Match #1	17 Sep 18:45	SWE	3 – 2	KOR
Match #2	17 Sep	BRA	3 – 0	ITA
Match #3	17 Sep	URS	3 – 0	BUL
Match #4	19 Sep 12:00	URS	3 – 0	SWE
Match #5	19 Sep 16:30	BUL	3 – 0	ITA
Match #6	19 Sep 18:30	KOR	3 – 2	BRA
Match #7	22 Sep 12:00	BRA	3 – 1	BUL
Match #8	22 Sep 14:30	ITA	3 – 2	SWE
Match #9	22 Sep 16:30	URS	3 – 0	KOR
Match #10	24 Sep 16:30	BRA	3 – 1	SWE
Match #11	24 Sep 18:30	BUL	3 – 0	KOR
Match #12	24 Sep 20:30	URS	3 – 1	ITA
Match #13	26 Sep 9:45	ITA	3 – 0	KOR
Match #14	26 Sep 18:30	BRA	3 – 2	URS
Match #15	26 Sep 20:30	SWE	3 – 0	BUL

Group B (17 – 26 September 1988)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	NOC	W	L	Pts	Sets	Points
1	USA	5	0	10	15–3	263–155
2	ARG	3	2	8	11–7	209–211
3	FRA	3	2	8	10–7	222–190
4	NED	3	2	8	10–7	202–183
5	JPN	1	4	6	5–12	182–215
6	TUN	0	5	5	0–15	101–225

Match #1	17 Sep 16:30	NED	3 – 1	FRA
Match #2	17 Sep	USA	3 – 0	JPN
Match #3	17 Sep	ARG	3 – 0	TUN
Match #4	19 Sep 9:45	USA	3 – 1	NED
Match #5	19 Sep 14:30	FRA	3 – 0	TUN
Match #6	19 Sep 20:30	ARG	3 – 1	JPN
Match #7	22 Sep 9:45	USA	3 – 2	ARG
Match #8	22 Sep 18:30	FRA	3 – 1	JPN
Match #9	22 Sep 20:30	NED	3 – 0	TUN
Match #10	24 Sep 9:45	USA	3 – 0	FRA
Match #11	24 Sep 12:00	JPN	3 – 0	TUN
Match #12	24 Sep 14:30	ARG	3 – 0	NED
Match #13	26 Sep 12:00	FRA	3 – 0	ARG
Match #14	26 Sep 14:30	USA	3 – 0	TUN
Match #15	26 Sep 16:30	NED	3 – 0	JPN

Classification Round 9-12 (28 September 1988)

Classification matches.

Match #1	28 Sep 12:00	ITA	3 – 0	TUN
Match #2	28 Sep 18:00	JPN	3 – 2	KOR

Classification Round 5-8 (28 September 1988)

Classification matches.

Match #1	28 Sep 9:45	BUL	3 – 0	FRA
Match #2	28 Sep 20:30	NED	3 – 2	SWE

Semi-Finals (28 – 30 September 1988)

Single-elimination.

Match #1	30 Sep 9:45	USA	3 – 0	BRA
Match #2	30 Sep 20:30	URS	3 – 0	ARG

Final Round (30 September – 2 October 1988)

Medal round.

Match 1/2	02 Oct 12:00	USA	3 – 1	URS
Match 3/4	02 Oct 9:45	ARG	3 – 2	BRA
Match 5/6	01 Oct 12:00	NED	3 – 0	BUL
Match 7/8	01 Oct 9:45	SWE	3 – 2	FRA
Match 9/10	30 Sep 18:00	ITA	3 – 2	JPN
Match 11/12	30 Sep 12:00	KOR	3 – 0	TUN

Rankings

Points
Side Outs