The past two Olympics in indoor volleyball have shown that slow starts are far from detrimental. Both gold medal teams from the 2016 Olympics in Rio finished fourth in pool play before rallying to claim gold. The Brazilian men needed to beat France in their final pool play match just to advance, while the Chinese women lost three of their first five matches before rolling through the medal round. That was a pattern that was similar to the 2012 Games in London when the eventual champion Russian men and Brazilian women finished third and fourth in pool play.
