With the
FIVB World Volleyball Championship in full swing, it’s time to get to know a bit more about the game.
Volleyball was first created by William G. Morgan, a YMCA physical education director in 1895. Morgan originally called the game Mintonette. It wasn’t until an Alfred Halstead noticed the volleying nature of the game that the name volleyball became associated with the game. Now that we know how the game was created, here are a few more volleyball facts
1. Olympic sport
During the 1924 Olympics in Paris, volleyball was played for the first at the global sporting event as a “demonstration sport”. However, it would be another 40 years before the sport would become an official Olympic sport. The 1964 Olympics in Tokyo were the first to feature the sport as a full-fledged Olympic event.
2. The court
A volleyball court is 18 meters long and 9 meters wide. It is divided into two equal half of 9 meters by 9 meters. The net that divides the halves is one meter wide and is hung so that the top of the net is 2.43 meters above the ground for men and 2.24 for women.
3. The records
There have been many amazing records in volleyball, these are just three of the most impressive.
- American-born Karch Kiraly is the only person to ever win both Olympic gold medals for both Indoor and Sand. He won Indoor gold medals in 1984 and 1988 and for Sand in 1992.
- Kerri Walsh-Jennings and Misty May-Treanor are the only Sand team to ever win three consecutive Olympic gold medals representing the United States in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
- The fastest volleyball serve was recorded in 2012 as Bulgarian player Matey Kaziyski served at a scorching 132km/h.
4. FIVB World Volleyball Championship
The first FIVB Men’s World Volleyball Championship was held in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1949. Ten nations from around Europe competed in the tournament with Czechoslovakia taking the title. Just three years later, the first FIVB Women’s World Volleyball Championship was held in Moscow in the old Soviet Union. Eight teams competed in the tournament with the Soviet Union winning it all. The 2018 edition of the FIVB Women’s World Volleyball Championship is being hosted of Japan with 24 teams competing.
Bet on the FIVB Volleyball Championship action
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betting on the FIVB World Volleyball Championship action at Betway. We offer both pregame and
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