Volleyball - Team Poland

General
Poland arrive in Tokyo as the reigning world champions, just as they did at the 2016 Games in Rio. They booked their ticket for Tokyo at the 2019 Intercontinental Olympic Qualifying Tournament, topping Pool D undefeated after matches against France, Tunisia and Slovenia.

From a total of nine Olympic appearances Poland have one Olympic medal to their name, a gold at the 1976 Games in Montreal where they defeated the Soviet Union in the final. Their next-best result came four years later, as they finished fourth in Moscow. They have finished fifth at the past four Olympic Games, reaching the quarterfinals on each occasion. In Rio in 2016 they were eliminated 3-0 by the United States of America after beating Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Argentina and Cuba in the preliminary round, and suffering their only pool defeat to the Russian Federation. At London in 2012, they lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champions the Russian Federation, while in 2008 and 2004 they were knocked out by Italy and Brazil, respectively.

At the 2018 World Championship, defeats in round two to France and Argentina did not prevent Poland from progressing to the semifinals, where they beat the United States of America 3-2. This set up a second consecutive final against Brazil, following Poland's 3-1 win in the final of the 2014 edition. In 2018 they fared even better, triumphing in straight sets against their South American opponents.

The 2019 Nations League [formerly the World League] saw them beat Brazil again in straight sets, this time in the third-place match. At the 2019 World Cup, however, Brazil gained a measure of revenge, claiming gold undefeated ahead of Poland in the final standings. Poland finished second after losing to Brazil 3-2 in the round robin tournament, as well as defeat to the United States of America.