New format, unpredictable field spice Paris Olympics women’s volleyball

In addition to defending-champion USA, there are 11 other women’s teams competing for volleyball gold in the Paris Olympics. This is a look at each of them.

These Olympics feature a new and different format. Gone are the six-team pools, replaced with three pools of four each. The top two squads in each pool make the final eight and will be joined in the single-elimination bracket by the top two third-place finishers.

How is that determined? Victories, match points and set ratios. So every match — perhaps every point — is important.

These 11 Olympics teams feature three former NCAA players, a so-called Pool C “Pool of Death,” and perhaps its first European champion. The last team from Europe or nearby to win: The Soviet Union in 1988.

Pool A  

France, USA, China, Serbia

France: First-time Olympics participant France, which finished 2-10 in Volleyball Nations League and will likely get swept three times, is the top seed, a privilege extended to every host nation. 

VNL was France’s first elite level international competition since 1974. The team includes Christina Bauer, who signed with LOVB Houston, and UCLA product Iman Ndiaye

China: China, which won the 2016 Rio Olympics, qualified through VNL based on world ranking after a disappointing performance in last fall’s Olympic qualification tournament. 2016 MVP Zhu Ting returned to the team for the first time since hurting her wrist during the Tokyo Olympics and is still dealing with the injury. China’s left-handed outside hitter Li Yingying is a superstar and middles Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan can carry their team.

Serbia: Serbia took bronze in Tokyo and is the defending World Champion, but it skipped VNL. Serbia boasts one of the world’s most dynamic players in lefty Tijana Boskovic and two seasoned setters in Maja Ognjenovic and Bojana Drca.

Pool B

Brazil, Poland, Japan, Kenya

Brazil: Brazil, which lost to the USA in the Tokyo gold-medal match, has to be considered one of the favorites. Brazil, fourth in VNL, has a host of star players, including outsides Gabi, Ana Cristina and Julia Bergmann. Bergmann had an All-American career at Georgia Tech. Thaisa, a two-time Olympics gold medalist, is back in the middle.

Middle Thaisa, a two-time Olympic champion (2008, 2012) who returned to the national team in 2023, is still a star at 37. Brazil also has the X factor of coach Ze Roberto.