The 1988 women's Olympic volleyball tournament was the seventh edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee. The competition in Seoul, South Korea was held from 20 to 29 September 1988.[1]
1. Cuba was the 1986 World Championship runners-up (champions China, had already qualified as 1984 Olympic champions), but together with 6 another countries, boycotted the games and their spot was given to Peru, as the team finished in the 3rd place during the 1986 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship
2.Peru won the 1987 Women's South American Volleyball Championship, as they had already qualified, the South American place was reassigned to Brazil.
3. Japan was the 1987 Asian Championship runners-up (champions China, had already qualified as 1984 Olympic champions).
4. United States was the 1987 NORCECA Championship runners-up (champions Cuba, had already qualified as 1986 World Championship runners-up).
Format
The tournament was played in two different stages. In the Preliminary round (first stage), the eight participants were divided into two pools of four teams. A single round-robin format was played within each pool to determine the teams position in the pool. The Final round (second stage) was played in a single elimination format, where the preliminary round two highest ranked teams in each group advanced to the semifinals and the two lowest ranked teams advanced to the 5th–8th place semifinals.
^ ab"Volleyball at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Women's Volleyball". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2019.