FIVB World Grand Prix

FIVB World Grand Prix
Current season or competition:
2011 FIVB World Grand Prix
Sport Volleyball
Founded 1993
No. of teams 16
Continent International (FIVB)
Most recent champion(s) United States
Most titles  Brazil (8)

The FIVB World Grand Prix is a women's volleyball competition. Played every year since 1993, it is considered the women's version of the FIVB World League. In 2004, it distributed US$ 1.295 million in prizes.

Contents

History

Origins

World Grand Prix was created in 1993 as part of the FIVB's marketing strategy to promote the sport of volleyball by establishing annual international competitions. It was modelled after the World League, a successful event for men that had been introduced three years before.

The Grand Prix made women's volleyball very popular in East Asia; the lack of interest on the part of the audience is nevertheless still significant throughout the world. Today (2004), the competition is maintained mainly with the support of Asian investors.

The budget for prize money has been growing steadily since 1993, but at a rather slow pace. The figures have reached $1.295 million dollars in 2004 - meager when compared to the World League's $13 million.

The predominance of Asian sponsors determined the first major break with the World League's formula. Most of the cities that host preliminary round matches are located in Asia. A host country may or may not have a national volleyball team involved in the competition. A second break was introduced in recent years: in some continents, teams must qualify to participate in the competition.

Winners

The history of Grand Prix's previous winners is a clear indication of how women's volleyball has been dominated, since the early 1990s, by four teams: Cuba, Brazil, Russia and China. Along with two-time winner USA, they are the only ones to hold a title at this competition as of 2005.

In 1993, the Cubans padded their already impressive record of a gold medal in the 1992 Olympic Games by winning the first edition of the Grand Prix. They were also running for the gold in 1994, but were defeated by an underranked Brazil: at that time, the Brazilians had never been able to catch a single medal in any major women's volleyball competition.

In the following years, Brazil proved beyond any doubt that its time as underdog was over. It lost the finals in 1995 to USA, but came back in 1996 for a second Grand Prix title, winning all the matches that made up the Final Four round in five sets.

The Brazilians withdrew from the competition in 1997, and the winner was Russia. But they were back in 1998 for another gold. Russia took revenge in 1999, and defeated Brazil in straight sets to win their second Grand Prix title.

Russia's win in 2002 made them, like Brazil, three-time winners. But the South Americans untied the score by conquering the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009 editions of the tournament. The winners in 2000, 2001 and 2003 were Cuba, USA and China, respectively. Netherlands won their first trophy in 2007. In 2010 and 2011, USA won two consecutive gold medals.

Competition formula

The Grand Prix's competition formula has proved less stable than the World League's. In the following years, major changes are likely to be introduced in an attempt to make women's volleyball more attractive to the audience. Some of the rules that are still in practice as of 2004 are:

Results

FIVB World Grand Prix
Year Host Champions Runners-up 3rd place
1993
Details

Hong Kong

Cuba

China

Russia
1994
Details

Shanghai

Brazil

Cuba

China
1995
Details

Shanghai

United States

Brazil

Cuba
1996
Details

Shanghai

Brazil

Cuba

Russia
1997
Details

Kobe

Russia

Cuba

South Korea
1998
Details

Hong Kong

Brazil

Russia

Cuba
1999
Details

Yuxi

Russia

Brazil

China
2000
Details

Manila

Cuba

Russia

Brazil
2001
Details

Macau

United States

China

Russia
2002
Details

Hong Kong

Russia

China

Germany
2003
Details

Andria

China

Russia

United States
2004
Details

Reggio Calabria

Brazil

Italy

United States
2005
Details

Sendai

Brazil

Italy

China
2006
Details

Reggio Calabria

Brazil

Russia

Italy
2007
Details

Ningbo

Netherlands

China

Italy
2008
Details

Yokohama

Brazil

Cuba

Italy
2009
Details

Tokyo

Brazil

Russia

Germany
2010
Details

Ningbo

United States

Brazil

Italy
2011
Details

Macau

United States

Brazil

Serbia
2012
Details

Ningbo

Medal summary

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Brazil 8 4 1 13
2  United States 4 0 2 6
3  Russia 3 5 3 11
4  Cuba 2 4 2 8
5  China 1 4 3 8
6  Netherlands 1 0 0 1
7  Italy 0 2 4 6
8  Germany 0 0 2 2
9  Serbia 0 0 1 1
 South Korea 0 0 1 1
Total 19 19 19 57

MVP by edition

See also

External links