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The Soviets won six of the first twelve World titles,
finishing in the first three places in all but one
championship (1970) over the next forty-one years. They
also won the three Olympic gold medals, in Tokyo 1964,
Mexico 1968 and Moscow 1980.
Czechoslovakia was the other great volleyball power in
the early years. They hold the distinction, with the
USSR/Russia, of being the only team to have competed in
every men's World Championship, winning the World title in
1956 and 1966, and finishing second in 1949, 1952, 1960
and 1962.
Germany (GDR - 1979), Poland (1974) and the USA (1986)
took individual wins, but neither team maintained its
World Championship dominance.
The late eighties and nineties saw the fall of the
Berlin Wall, the break-up of the Soviet Union, and the
start of a new chapter in Volleyball's history - the
Italian domination. The 'Squadra Azzurra' owned the last
decade, winning won all three World Championships (1990,
1994, 1998), as well as eight of the twelve World League
titles.
The next men's World Championship will be held in
Argentina from 28 September to 13 October, 2002.
The 24 teams for Argentina 2002 - Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, Czech
Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Korea, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Tunisia,
U.S.A., Venezuela, Yugoslavia.
Go to 2002
Men's World Championship
Women's World Championships
Volleyball's history can be defined by its World
Championships, and its world champions.
The first women's World Championship, held in Moscow in
1952, was won by the great USSR team. They dominated
women's volleyball for the next ten years, winning three
consecutive world titles - a record yet to be equalled.
Japan then took over the reigns. Its battles over the
decade with the USSR became legendary, the media calling
them the 'Typhoons of the Orient against the Red Witches'.
The Japanese won Volleyball's first Olympic gold medal in
1964, and three of the four World Championships from 1962
to 1974.
The late seventies saw Cuba enter the World
Championship winners list, but only briefly, as the
eighties was to belong to the Chinese and the great Lang
Ping, arguably volleyball's first superstar.
With three Olympic gold medals and the last two World
Championship titles, the nineties belonged to Cuba and the
dynamism of two of the games all-time greats in Regla
Torres and Mireya Luis.
The next women's World Championship is to be held in
Germany from 30 August to 15 September, 2002.
The 24 teams for Germany 2002 are:- Germany, Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech
Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Japan,
Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Puerto Rico,
Romania, Russia, Thailand, USA.
Go to 2002
Women's World Championship |
