Volleyball, conceived in 1895 by William G. Morgan in Springfield, Massachusetts, as an accessible alternative for the elderly, quickly gained popularity across the globe. Renamed “volleyball”, the sport developed rapidly in Canada, Cuba, Japan and other Asian countries from the beginning of the 20th century. The establishment of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) in 1947 marked a crucial milestone, followed the following year by the first men’s world championships and then in 1952 by the women’s world championships.
On the Olympic stage, volleyball made its debut at the 1964 Games in Tokyo. Initially organised as championships where all teams met, the competitions evolved into a classic tournament format in 1972, with group stages, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. The Soviet Union, Cuba, Italy, China and Brazil successively dominated the Olympic trophy cabinet, while the Soviet Union, Brazil and the United States occupy the top three places in the medal table, with at least ten medals each.
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