Volleyball - Team United States

General
The United States of America have won Olympic gold three times, with their most recent title coming at the 2008 Games in Beijing when they defeated Brazil 3-1 in the gold medal match. The US team qualified for Tokyo by winning Pool B of the 2019 Intercontinental Qualification Tournament.

At the 2016 Games in Rio, despite losing their opening matches against Canada and Italy, the US team progressed from the first round thanks to wins over Brazil, France and Mexico. After shutting out Poland in the quarterfinals, the US team let slip a 2-1 lead against Italy and were eliminated from the semifinals, before beating the Russian Federation for bronze. At London 2012 they bowed out at the quarterfinal stage following a straight sets defeat to Italy.

The US team's record at world level is impressive, although they have only won the world championship once, in 1986. Since then they have secured third place twice, most recently in 2018 when they beat Serbia following a semifinal loss to Poland. The US team were unable to retain their 2015 World Cup title at the 2019 edition, finishing third behind Poland and Brazil in the round robin standings after losses to Brazil and Argentina.

At the 2019 Nations League [formerly the World League], the US team progressed through the final pool round with wins over France and the Russian Federation, before overcoming Brazil in the semifinals. But they could not repeat their earlier straight sets win over the Russian team in the final, losing 3-1 on home soil in Chicago. They lost in the semifinals of the 2018 edition to hosts France, before winning the third-place match against Brazil. They have twice won the World League, beating finalists Serbia in 2008 and Brazil in 2014.