The United States men’s national volleyball team is bringing some Olympic hardware back stateside.

Following disappointment in the last Summer Olympics three years ago in Tokyo, when the Americans not only failed to medal but completely missed the knockout stages, the U.S. has roared back on the court and secured a medal in Paris among a loaded field competing all Games long at the South Paris Arena.

It wasn’t easy, but it was an important and well-needed result for the Americans to right the wrongs of Tokyo and get U.S. men’s volleyball back on track as a consistent medal favorite.

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And now, with the next Olympics in 2028 being home soil, the U.S. can utilize its newfound mojo for good ahead of another Olympic cycle.

Here’s a look back at how the USA Men’s Volleyball team performed — and what type of hardware that it will be bringing home — in Paris: 

How Did USA Men’s Volleyball Do At The 2024 Paris Olympics?

The Americans’ bronze-medal finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics is a strong return to the podium for the squad, especially considering that the U.S. missed the knockout rounds entirely during Tokyo 2020 in their first failure to make it out of the pool stage at an Olympics since Sydney 2000. 

The U.S. got to the knockouts in Paris by finishing pool play with a perfect 3-0 record, sweeping Argentina and outlasting Germany in five sets before downing Japan in four to make it to the quarterfinals as Pool C winners.

Getting to the semifinals by way of taking down Brazil 3-1 at the South Paris Arena on Monday, world No. 1 Poland then awaited the Americans in the final four. And while the U.S.’ gold-medal dreams were dashed in a heartbreak five-set defeat to the Poles on Wednesday, coach John Speraw and his group bounced back to sweep Italy in three razor-thin sets (25-23, 30-28, 26-24) two days later.

Speraw — who additionally coaches college powerhouse UCLA, the winner of the past two national championships — won his second bronze medal at an Olympics as the coach of Team USA, having also captured third place at Rio 2016. Multiple players on this year’s roster, including four-time Olympian Matt Anderson and world-class setter Micah Christenson, were part of the bronze-winning team eight years ago in Brazil.

Ranked sixth in the world going into the Olympics, the U.S. post-Paris now ranks third in the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Ranking.

Which Team Won the Gold Medal In Men’s Volleyball At The 2024 Paris Olympics?

Host France became the first nation to win back-to-back gold medals since the U.S. did it in 1984 and 1988 after stunning Poland in front of a raucous home crowd in Saturday’s gold-medal match, sweeping the Poles 25-19, 25-20, 25-23 to deny what would’ve been the world’s No. 1-ranked team’s first gold at an Olympics in 48 years.

France is now the only country besides Brazil, the Soviet Union and the U.S. to have won multiple Olympic men’s volleyball gold medals with two all-time, with those golds also being the only medals of any color that France’s men’s volleyball team has won at the Olympics.

How Many Medals Has the USA Men’s Volleyball Team Won at the Olympics?

The United States won its sixth-ever medal in men’s volleyball at the 2024 Paris Olympics, putting it into a tie with the Soviet Union and Brazil for the most total Olympic medals by one nation in the sport’s history. 

The Americans’ three gold medals won all-time is also tied for the most in Olympic men’s volleyball history with the same countries listed above. The combined men’s volleyball medal tally of the Soviet Union and Russia is 10 with four golds, though Russia did not participate in Paris 2024 as it has been banned from competing by the FIVB since 2022 in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. men’s volleyball team has not won gold at an Olympics since Beijing 2008 and has not won medals at back-to-back Olympics since Los Angeles 1984 (gold), Seoul 1988 (gold), and Barcelona 1992 (bronze). Its next opportunity to do so will be on home soil at Los Angeles 2028, with the Associated Press reporting in its post-match recap from Paris that multiple veteran members of the U.S. squad (including Anderson, who will be 41 in four years) are looking to give the Olympics one more go-round before their careers are done.

When Does the USA Men’s Volleyball Team Play Next?

The Paris Olympics marked the end of the FIVB’s major international competition calendar for 2024, which switches to the “Los Angeles Cycle” next year with a new focus on club competition. 

The U.S. will not participate in another major international competition until the annual Volleyball Nations League kicks back up again from June-July 2025, with the FIVB expected to announce the host cities for the VNL events scheduled to be held from 2025-2027 later this month.

2024 Paris Olympics United States Men’s Volleyball National Team Roster 

• No. 1: Matt Anderson, 6-10, opposite
• No. 2: Aaron Russell, 6-9, outside hitter
• No. 4: Jeff Jendryk, 6-10, middle blocker
• No. 8: T.J. DeFalco, 6-5, outside hitter
• No. 11: Micah Christenson, 6-5, setter
• No. 12: Max Holt, 6-10, middle blocker
• No. 14: Micah Ma’a, 6-3, setter
• No. 17: Thomas Jaeschke, 6-6, outside hitter
• No. 18: Garrett Muagututia, 6-5, outside hitter
• No. 19: Taylor Averill, 6-7, middle blocker
• No. 20: David Smith, 6-7, middle blocker
• No. 22: Erik Shoji, 6-0, libero
• Alternate: Kyle Ensing, 6-7, opposite

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