<P> Brazil, United States, and the former Soviet Union, are the only teams to win multiple gold medals at the men's tournament since its introduction . The remaining five editions of the Men's Olympic Volleyball Tournament were won each by a different country including Japan, Poland, Netherlands, Russia and the defunct Yugoslavia . </P> <P> Gold medals are less evenly distributed in women's volleyball than in men's; the fourteen editions of the Women's Olympic Volleyball Tournament were won by only five different countries: Brazil, Cuba, China, Japan and the former Soviet Union . </P> <P> The history of Olympic volleyball can be traced back to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where volleyball was played as part of an American sports demonstration event . Its addition to the Olympic program, however, was given only after World War II, with the foundation of the FIVB and of some of the continental confederations . In 1957, a special tournament was held during the 53rd IOC session in Sofia, Bulgaria, to support such request . The competition was a success, and the sport was officially introduced in 1964 . The Olympic Committee initially dropped volleyball for the 1968 Olympics, meeting protests . </P> <P> The volleyball Olympic tournament was originally a simple competition, whose format paralleled the one still employed in the World Cup: all teams played against each other team and then were ranked by number of wins, set average and point average . One disadvantage of this round - robin system is that medal winners could be determined before the end of the games, making the audience lose interest in the outcome of the remaining matches . </P>

Volleyball became an official sport in the summer olympics in this year