European Volleyball a dominant force at the sport’s Olympic debut

Volleyball made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 1964 - some nine years before the CEV was established. At that stage, European teams were a real major force to reckon with – as many as six out of ten teams playing the inaugural men’s Olympic tournament came from Europe, with the Soviet Union eventually finishing first and Czechoslovakia claiming second place.

The competition was a single round robin and a close affair involving the Soviets, Czechoslovakia as well as hosts Japan in the quest for a podium finish. The Soviets had won World Championship gold two years earlier on home soil and a key match at Tokyo 1964 ended in a 3-2 victory for the USSR against their arch-rivals from Czechoslovakia. This victory laid the foundations for the Soviets’ eventual success even though they lost 1-3 to Japan later in the competition.

The home side had to pay a high price for their shocking defeat at the hands of another European team, Hungary, who beat Japan 3-0 early in the tournament. Hungary had to be content with sixth place in the end, but of the top six from the final standing, all were from Europe with Japan as the only exception. This shows the leading and dominant role that European Volleyball has been playing already since the early days of the sport.

That legendary team included captain Yuri Chesnokov, who represented the quintessential volleyball player back in the 60s through his combination of physical prowess, technical and tactical abilities, including a truly outstanding blocking technique. Born in 1933 in Moscow, Chesnokov achieved much success not only with the Soviet national team, but with CSKA as well, before becoming a highly respected and accomplished coach, who was at the helm of the Soviet Union in the early 70s up until the Montreal Olympics in 1976 – when he became a Vice-President of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).  

Back in 2009, a special reception was held in Moscow, 45 years after that historic success at Tokyo 1964. It was joined by all members of the Olympic winning team but three – who had already passed away. The roster of that glorious group included Nikolay Burobin, Valery Kalachikhin, Vitaly Kovalenko, Georgy Mondzolevsky, Yuri Chesnokov, Stanislavs Lugailo, Yuri Poyarkov, Ivans Bugajenkovs, Vazha Kacharava, Eduard Sibiryakov, Yury Vengerovskiy, and Dmitry Voskoboynikov. Chesnokov passed away just a year after that special celebratory event held to mark the 45th anniversary of a historic Olympic victory.