| Event: | Women's volleyball |
| Games: | 2004 Summer |
| Venue: | Peace and Friendship Stadium |
| Date: | 14–28 August |
| Competitors: | 144 |
| Nations: | 12 |
| Gold: | (2nd title) |
| Prev: | 2000 |
| Next: | 2008 |
The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the eleventh edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee. It was held at the Peace and Friendship Stadium located at the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex between 14 and 28 August 2004.[1]
The medals for the competition were presented by Henri Sérandour, France; Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, Hong Kong; and Els van Breda Vriesman, Netherlands; IOC Members, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Jizhong Wei, People's Republic of China; FIVB 1st Vice-President, Cristobal Marte Hoffiz, Dominican Republic; FIVB Vice President, and Aleksandar Boričić, Serbia and Montenegro; FIVB Board-Administration Member.
| P | Preliminary round | ¼ | Quarterfinals | ½ | Semifinals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Final |
| Sat 14 | Sun 15 | Mon 16 | Tue 17 | Wed 18 | Thu 19 | Fri 20 | Sat 21 | Sun 22 | Mon 23 | Tue 24 | Wed 25 | Thu 26 | Fri 27 | Sat 28 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | P | P | P | P | ¼ | ½ | B | F | |||||||||||
| Qualifiers | Date | Host! | Vacancies | Qualified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Country | 5 September 1997 | Lausanne | 1 | ||
| 2003 Women's World Cup | 1–15 November 2003 |  Japan | 3 | ||
| European Qualification | 5–10 January 2004 |  Baku, Azerbaijan | 1 | ||
| North American Qualification | 15–21 December 2003 |  Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | 1 | ||
| South American Qualification | 9–11 January 2004 |  Caracas, Venezuela | 1 | ||
| African Qualification | 7–10 January 2004 |  Nairobi, Kenya | 1 | ||
| Asian Qualification | 8–16 May 2004 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | ||
| 2004 Olympic Qualification Tournament | 3 | ||||
| Total | 12 | Source:FIVB[2] | |||
The tournament was played in two different stages. In the (first stage), the twelve participants were divided into two pools of six teams. A single round-robin format was played within each pool to determine the teams position in the pool. The four highest ranked teams in each pool advanced to the (second stage) and the two lowest ranked teams took no further participation (with pool places 5th and 6th being ranked in the final standings as joined 9th and 11th, respectively).
The was played in a single elimination format, starting at the quarterfinals, winners advanced to the semifinals while losers were eliminated (ranked at standings as joined 5th).
Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their ranking as of January 2004.[4]
| width=50% | Pool A | width=50% | Pool B |
|---|---|---|---|
| (hosts) | (1st) | ||
| (3rd) | (2nd) | ||
| (4th) | |||
See main article: article and Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's team rosters.
| All matches | |
|---|---|
| , Piraeus, Greece | |
| Peace and Friendship Stadium | |
| Capacity: 10,520 | |
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According to the official results:[5] [6]
| width=35 | Place | width=185 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 9 | |||
| 9 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 11 |
| 12-woman roster | |
| Feng Kun (c), Yang Hao, Liu Yanan, Li Shan, Zhou Suhong, Zhao Ruirui, Zhang Yuehong, Chen Jing, Song Nina, Wang Lina, Zhang Na (L), Zhang Ping | |
| Head coach | |
| Chen Zhonghe |