Volleyball at the Summer Olympics tiebreaker in the quarterfinals. China went on to win the title, their third in Olympic history, by beating Serbia in four sets in the gold medal match. In the process, Lang Ping became the first person to win a gold medal as a player in Los Angeles 1984 and repeat the feat now as a coach in Rio de Janeiro. China also became the first team to win the Olympics after losing three matches in the preliminary round. The United States defeated Netherlands 3–1 to capture the bronze medal. The fourteen editions of the women's tournament were won by only
Cuba at the 2008 Summer Olympics by placing in the top two at the 2006 Americas Olympic Qualifying Event. The Cuba national baseball team has historically been very successful at the Olympics, winning the gold medal in three of the four tournaments held so far and taking the silver in 2000. Cuba qualified ten boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. The light heavyweight class was the only one in which Cuba did not qualify a boxer. Nine of the ten Cuban qualifiers did so at the first American qualifying tournament. For the first time since the 1988 Olympic Games, Cuba did not win a gold medal.