Volleyball at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held from 20 July to 4 August 1996 at the Omni Coliseum (indoor), Stegeman Coliseum (indoor), and Atlanta Beach Volleyball Centre (beach).
For the first time, men's and women's beach volleyball was officially included in the Olympic program as a full-medal sport. On the contrary, this edition marked the last Olympic volleyball tournament to use side-out scoring, where a team could only score on its own serve.
The women's volleyball tournament was also expanded to twelve teams from eight at Barcelona 1992, separated into two pools of six.
Medal Table[]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Brazil |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 |  United States |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 |  Cuba |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Netherlands |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 |  China |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Italy |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 7 |  Australia |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Canada |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Serbia and Montenegro |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Medalists[]
| Event | 
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's indoor | Netherlands Peter Blange Bas van de Goor Mike van de Goor Guido Gortzen Rob Grabert Hank-Jan Held Misha Latuhihin Olof van der Meulen Jan Posthuma Brecht Rodenburg Richard Schuil Ron Zwerver |
Italy Lorenzo Bernardi Vigor Bovolenta Marco Bracci Luca Cantagalli Andrea Gardini Andrea Giani Pasquale Gravina Marco Meoni Samuele Papi Andrea Sartoretti Paolo Tofoli Andrea Zorzi |
Serbia and Montenegro Vladimir Batez Dejan Brdjovic Djorde Djuric Andrija Geric Nikola Grbic Vladimir Grbic Rajko Jokanovic Slobodan Kovac Djula Mester Zarko Petkovic Zeljko Tanaskovic Goran Vujevic |
| Women's indoor | Cuba Taismari Aguero Regla Bell Magalys Carvajal Marleny Costa Ana Ibis Fernandez Mirka Francia Idalmis Gato Lilia Izquierdo Mireya Luis Raiza O'Farrill Yumilka Ruiz Regla Torres |
China Cui Yongmei He Qi Lai Yawen Li Yan Liu Xiaoning Pan Wenli Sun Yue Wang Lina Wang Yi Wang Ziling Wu Yongmei Zhu Yunying |
Brazil Ana Margarida Vieira Alvares Leila Gomes de Barros Ericleia Bodzick Hilma Aparecida Caldeiras Ana Paula Rodrigues Connelly Marcia Regina Cunha Virna Cristine Dantas Dias Ana Beatriz Moser Ana Flavia Chritaro Sanglard Helia Rogerio de Souza Sandra Maria Lima Suruagy Fernanda Porto Venturini |
| Men's beach | Karch Kiraly Kent Steffes
|
Michael Dodd Mike Whitmarsh
|
John Child Mark Heese
|
| Women's beach | Sandra Tavares Pires Jacqueline Louise Cruz Silva
|
Monica Rodrigues Adriana Ramos Samuel
|
Natalie Cook Kerri Ann Pottharst
|
Statistics[]
- There were 359 total athletes from 30 countries.
- Yumilka Ruiz was the youngest participant with 18 years and 73 days.
- Christopher St. John Smith was the oldest participant with 39 years and 82 days.
- Dimo Tonev of Bulgaria and Choi Cheon-sik of South Korea were the only volleyball players chosen to be flag bearers at the opening ceremony.
- Australia and Serbia and Montenegro won their first-ever medal in the sport.
- Netherlands won its first-ever gold medal in the sport.