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In 1991, the International Olympic Committee alongside the FIVB decided to increase the number of countries participating in the women's volleyball tournament at the Summer Olympic Games from 8 to 12 and thus equalize the number of athletes in the two tournaments.As the men's event, the tournament was played in two different stages. In the Preliminary round (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 Final round (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 ad 11th, respectively).
The Final round was played in a single elimination format, with placement matches determining the top eight positions. Starting at the quarterfinals, winners advanced to the semifinals while losers advanced to the placement matches (5th–8th semifinal).
Pools composition
Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their ranking as of January 1996.
Russia was transferred to play in this zone. No more African teams were interested to play.
Initial host had to be Egypt. They withdrew due to lack of funds.
Nigeria had to play in the Intercontinental Qualifications in Japan Olympics Women OQ 1996. Withdrew and was replaced by Romania.
The 2 African teams played after a protest at the inclusion in the Africa zone of Russia. https://web.archive.org/web/20150628215914/http://www.todor66.com/volleyball/Africa/Women_OQ_1996.html
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Tokyo
United States
Cuba
Brazil
China
Germany
Canada
Peru
South Korea
Russia
Netherlands
Ukraine
South Korea (6th)
Japan
