Volleyball

Developed around the late 1890s, Volleyball, initially known as "Mintonette", was meant to be a less arduous alternative to Basketball. Within few years of it invention the sport had stared to be played in many countries however it made its Olympic debut much later in the 1964 Tokyo Games where gold medals were won by Soviet Union and Japan. Since then Volleyball has been a part of every Olympic Games. There's no particular team that has dominated throughout its history in Olympics though Cuba has has set the record of winning 3 gold medals in 3 successive Olympic Games in 1992, 1996, and 2000. The most successful teams have been Russia and USA. In last Olympic Games held in Beijing in 2008, USA and Brazil won gold medals. In the 2012 London Games, the competition will be held at Earls Court from 28th July to 12th August. 12 teams (144 men and 144 women) will compete for the gold.