The women's beach volleyball tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom, took place between July 28, 2012 and August 8, 2012 at Horse Guards Parade.
Twenty-four pairs of competitors were taking part, including one from Great Britain as the host country, and a maximum of two from each other nation. Sixteen qualified through positioning in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings as of 17 June 2012, five others earned their places at the 2010–12 Continental Beach Volleyball Cup, and the final three from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Olympic Qualification tournament.Olympic Qualifying process confirmed for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, FIVB, 17 May 2010.
By virtue of the two American pairings winning gold and silver, this marked the second time in Olympic history the top two women's teams were both from the same country, the first being Brazil back in 1996 when the event debuted.
Qualification Means of qualification Vacancies QualifiedFIVB Beach Volleyball Olympic Ranking (as of 17 June 2012) 16 2010–12 Continental Beach Volleyball Cup (confirmed on 2 July 2012) 5 (Africa) (South America) (Europe) (North America) (Asia/Oceania)Beach Volleyball World Cup Final Olympic Qualification (26 June – 1 July 2012) 2 Host nation 1 Total 24
Seeds RankTeamNOC1Juliana Felisberta – Larissa França2Xue Chen – Zhang Xi3Misty May-Treanor – Kerri Walsh Jennings4Jennifer Kessy – April Ross5Maria Antonelli – Talita Antunes6Zara Dampney – Shauna Mullin7Greta Cicolari – Marta Menegatti8Sara Goller – Laura Ludwig9Sanne Keizer – Marleen van Iersel10Kristýna Kolocová – Markéta Sluková11Simone Kuhn – Nadine Zumkehr12Katrin Holtwick – Ilka Semmler13Lenka Háječková – Hana Klapalová14Vassiliki Arvaniti – Maria Tsiartsiani15Doris Schwaiger – Stefanie Schwaiger16Elsa Baquerizo – Liliana Fernández17Louise Bawden – Becchara Palmer18Ekaterina Khomyakova – Evgenia Ukolova19Marie-Andrée Lessard – Annie Martin20Madelein Meppelink – Sophie van Gestel21Ana Gallay – María Zonta22Natalie Cook – Tamsin Hinchley23Anastasia Vasina – Anna Vozakova24Natacha Rigobert – Elodie Li Yuk Lo
Preliminary round The composition of the preliminary rounds was announced confirmed on 19 July 2012 in a draw held in Klagenfurt, Austria.Olympic beach volleyball pool draw completed in Klagenfurt, FIVB, 19 July 2012.
Teams are awarded two points for a win and one for a loss. If two teams are tied at the end of pool play, the tiebreakers is their head-to-head match. If three or more teams are tied, the tiebreakers are (1) points ratio between tied teams, (2) points ratio within pool, and (3) tournament seed. The two best teams from each group advance to the round of 16. The two best third-placed teams also qualify. Two 'lucky loser' matches qualify two more of the third-placed teams.Olympic Games beach volleyball schedule confirmed, FIVB, 20 July 2012.
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00).
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
Pool E
Pool F
Lucky loser Of the six teams that are placed third in their pools, two directly qualify for the play-offs. From the four remaining third-placed teams, another two teams qualify for the play-offs by winning a 'lucky loser' match.
This table shows the results of the third placed teams after the pool play, and before the 'lucky loser' matches.
Lucky loser play-offs
Playoffs
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Bronze medal match
Final
Final ranking Rank TeamSeed 3 4 14.25.7810159.5911121618202317.61319.141719212224
See also Beach volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
References
External links Official website of the 2012 Olympic beach volleyball tournaments