Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the eleventh edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee. It was held at the Peace and Friendship Stadium located at the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex between 14 and 28 August 2004.

The medals for the competition were presented by Henri Sérandour, France; Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, Hong Kong; and Els van Breda Vriesman, Netherlands; IOC Members, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Jizhong Wei, People's Republic of China; FIVB 1st Vice-President, Cristobal Marte Hoffiz, Dominican Republic; FIVB Vice President, and Aleksandar Boričić, Serbia and Montenegro; FIVB Board-Administration Member.

Qualification
* Dominican Republic is associated at the NORCECA (North America and Caribbean), but entered the South American Qualification as only three South American countries competed at the continental qualification.The country won a wildcard after win the gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.

Format
The tournament was played in two different stages. In the (first stage), the twelve participants were divided into two pools of six teams. A single round-robin format was played within each pool to determine the teams position in the pool. The four highest ranked teams in each pool advanced to the (second stage) and the two lowest ranked teams took no further participation (with pool places 5th and 6th being ranked in the final standings as joined 9th and 11th, respectively).

The was played in a single elimination format, starting at the quarterfinals, winners advanced to the semifinals while losers were eliminated (ranked at standings as joined 5th).

Pools composition
Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their ranking as of January 2004.

Preliminary round

 * All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3:00).

Pool A


  

  

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Pool B
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Quarterfinals
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Semifinals
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Bronze medal match
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Gold medal match
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Final standings
According to the official results:

Awards

 * Most valuable player


 * Best scorer


 * Best spiker


 * Best blocker


 * Best server
 * Best digger
 * Best digger


 * Best setter


 * Best receiver