Brazil, France, the United States and the former Soviet Union are the only teams to win multiple gold medals at the men's tournament since its introduction.

The remaining six editions of the Men's Olympic Volleyball Tournament were won each by a different country including Japan, Poland, Netherlands, Russia and the defunct Yugoslavia.

One disadvantage of this round-robin system is that medal winners could be determined before the end of the games, making the audience lose interest in the outcome of the remaining matches.

In 1980, many of the strongest teams in men's volleyball belonged to the Eastern Bloc, so the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics did not have as great an effect on these events as it had on the women's.

A long-awaited confrontation between the US and Soviet volleyball teams came in the 1988 final: powerplayers Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons pushed the United States to a second gold medal setting the issue in favor of the Americans.

Runners-up Netherlands, with Ron Zwerver and Olof van der Meulen, came back in the following edition for a five-set win over Italy.

After winning bronze in Atlanta, Serbia and Montenegro, led by Vladimir and Nikola Grbić, beat Russia at the final in 2000 to secure the gold (in 1996 and 2000 they played under the name Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

[3] After coming up short in the previous two editions of the Olympics as runners-up, the Brazilians captured their third gold medal in the history of the competition playing home in 2016 after their straight-set victory against Italy in the final.

[5] The 2020 tournament, held in 2021 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic causing a delay, had the French team of Earvin N'Gapeth win its first gold by defeating the Russian Olympic Committee, who returned to the podium after missing out in 2016.

[7] Gold medals appear to be more evenly distributed in men's volleyball than in women's: the former Soviet Union (three titles), United States (three), Brazil (three), and France (two) are the only teams to have won the tournament more than once.

With eastern and western nations again involved in the Olympics, the Soviet Union obtained a remarkable victory over Peru after trailing 0–2 in 1988's marking one of the most dramatic female matches of the 20th century.

Led by superstars Mireya Luis and Regla Torres, Cuba would eventually set the record for consecutive wins in the Olympic Games by also taking the gold in 1996 and 2000 against China and Russia, respectively.

[9] 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.