INTRODUCTION Throughout human history people have always sought to challenge themselves to compete against others and to discover the limits of their capabilities Such desires can turn destructive leading to war But the ancient Greeks also recognized the good in these human traits and it was because of them that the Olympic Games featuring running races jumping contests throwing competitions and wrestling and boxing matches began more than 2,700 years ago The ancient Olympics ended in a d 393 but the Games were revived in 1896 in hopes of promoting world peace through sports Fittingly the first modern Olympics were held in Athens Greece but they moved around the world every four years after that In 2009 it was announced that the Games would be held in South America for the first time going to Rio de Janeiro Brazil in 2016 Every 1896 Olympian received a medal reading International Olympic Games Athens 1896 4
In 1895 volleyball was invented in Holyoke Massachusetts by William G Morgan a YMCA physical education instructor It did not take long for the sport a fast-paced game involving powerful ball striking agile defense and tight-knit teamwork to grow in popularity throughout the United States In the first quarter of the 20th century the game gained international interest as well especially in Brazil China Japan the Philippines Poland and Russia Teenage athletes played volleyball as a demonstration event at the Olympic Games of 1924 but it wasn’t until 1964 in Tokyo Japan that volleyball was introduced as an official Olympic sport Played at the Olympic level by both men and women volleyball was first dominated by teams from Japan with squads from the Soviet Union and the U S soon rising to capture their own shares of glory In recent years the sport has ascended to new levels of popularity due largely to beach volleyball a modified form that gained Olympic status in 1996 While stars such as the Soviet Union’s Yuri Chesnokov and Cuba’s Regla Torres did their countries proud on indoor courts volleyball standouts such as Americans Karch Kiraly and Kerri Walsh have made history under the sun Whether it is played on an indoor surface or sand or in teams of six or two the high-leaping ball-smashing game of volleyball has earned a place as one of the Olympics most thrilling competitions INTRODUCTION 5
A PIONEER AND PILLAR YURI CHESNOKOV SOVIET UNION OLYMPIC COMPETITIONS 1964 AS PLAYER 1972 1976 AS COACH Although he was a fierce hitter and tough blocker while playing for the Soviet Union in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo the best part of Yuri Chesnokov’s game was his mind With a gift for strategy that would later become fully evident in his efforts as a coach Chesnokov led the Soviets to an 8 1 record in round-robin play at the Tokyo Games good for the first-ever gold medal in men’s Olympic volleyball Chesnokov had honed his game playing for the Central Army Sports Club CSKA in Moscow Two years after the 1964 Olympics he retired as a player and became coach of the CSKA team which was the top club in the country In 1970 he was handed the reins to the national team as well At the 1972 Olympics held in Munich West Germany expectations for the Soviet men’s volleyball team were high The Soviets had won their second consecutive Olympic gold in the 1968 A Romanian stamp celebrating volleyball and its inaugural Olympic tournament in the 1964 Games 6 1 8 9 6 A T H E N S G R E E C E 1 9 0 0 P A R I S F R A N C E 1 9 0 4 S T L O U I S M I S S O U R I 1 9 0 8 L O N D O N E N G L A N D 1 9 1 2 S T O C K H O L M S W E D E N 1 9 2 0 A N T W E R P B E L G I U M 1 9 2 4 P A R I S F R A N C E 1 9 2 8 A M S T E R D A M N E T H E R L A N D S 1 9 3 2 L O S A N G E L E S C A L I F O R N I A 1 9 3 6 B E R L I N G E R M A N Y 1 9 4 8 L O N D O N E N G L A N D 1 9 5 2 H E L S I N K I F I N L A N D 1 9 5 6 M E L B O U R N E A U S T R A L I A 1 9 6 0 R O M E I T A L Y 1 9 6 4 T O K Y O J A P A N 1 9 6 8 M E X I C O C I T Y M E X I C O 1 9 7 2 M U N I C H W E S T G E R M A N Y 1 9 7 6 M O N T R E A L Q U E B E C 1 9 8 0 M O S C O W S O V I E T U N I O N 1 9 8 4 L O S A N G E L E S C A L I F O R N I A 1 9 8 8 S E O U L S O U T H K O R E A 1 9 9 2 B A R C E L O N A S P A I N 1 9 9 6 A T L A N T A G E O R G I A 2 0 0 0 S Y D N E Y A U S T R A L I A 2 0 0 4 A T H E N S G R E E C E 2 0 0 8 B E I J I N G C H I N A 2 0 1 2 L O N D O N E N G L A N D
A PIONEER AND PILLAR Games in Mexico City and appeared to be on the verge of a dynasty with a style that was both hard-hitting and tactically supreme In Munich Chesnokov coached his team to a perfect 5 0 record in pool play only to watch as East Germany pulled off a major upset by upending his squad in four sets Although the Soviets recovered from the startling loss with an easy three-set victory over Bulgaria in the bronze medal match their overall performance was considered a failure by officials within the Soviet Sports Machine the nationalistic sports program that produced many successful Olympic athletes in numerous sports in the 1970s Quebec gave Chesnokov and the Soviet team a chance to redeem themselves Again the Soviets were dominant in pool play losing no sets in their three preliminary matches In the semifinals they ousted Cuba with another perfect three-set win before facing upstart Poland in the gold-medal match In one of the great Olympic volleyball finales in history the Soviets roared out to a two-sets-to-none lead only to fall victim to a Polish rally led by The 1976 Olympics held in Montreal 7 Soon after the 1976 Olympics Chesnokov Poland’s top star Ed Skorek who seemed to be everywhere No advice Chesnokov could impart could save his players from falling in the final three sets as Poland won the gold retired from coaching and took a leadership position in the International Volleyball Federation FIVB From 1978 through 1998 Chesnokov held various posts in the FIVB attending every Olympiad to promote the sport of volleyball When Chesnokov passed away in 2010 Jizhong Wei president of the FIVB said of him He was a pillar of the FIVB who made an enormous contribution to international volleyball He had a tremendous work ethic and touched many lives within the international volleyball community He was not only a legend of Russian volleyball but internationally he was one of the most respected persons within our sport as a player manager coach and an administrator He had a tremendous work ethic and touched many lives within the international volleyball community Jizhong Wei
