Water polo at the 2000 Summer Olympics
The water polo competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia saw Hungary’s return to the gold medal platform and the introduction of the women’s tournament. The Australian women had lobbied the IOC hard for the inclusion of women’s water polo in the Olympics, including showing up at the airport dressed only in their swimsuits during one pre-Olympic visit by members of the IOC.
Six nations competed in the women’s tournament with home team Australia winning the gold medal over the United States. Twelve nations competed in the men’s tournament and played a total of 48 matches. Spain was unable to follow up their 1996 gold medal performance with a medal. Hungary defeated Russia for the gold medal. All matches were held in Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre.
Men's medallists
| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
Attila Vári Zoltán Szécsi Bulcsú Székely Zsolt Varga Tamás Märcz Tamás Molnár Barnabás Steinmetz Tamás Kásás Gergely Kiss Zoltán Kósz Tibor Benedek Péter Biros Rajmund Fodor Head Coach: Dénes Kemény | Irek Zinnourov Dmitri Stratan Revaz Chomakhidze Marat Zakirov Nikolay Kozlov Nikolai Maximov Andrei Rekechinski Sergey Garbuzov Dmitry Gorshkov Yuri Yatsev Roman Balachov Dmitri Douquine Alexandre Erychov Head Coach: Alexander Kabanov | Predrag Zimonjić Jugoslav Vasović Vladimir Vujasinović Nenad Vukanić Aleksandar Šoštar Petar Trbojević Veljko Uskoković Nikola Kuljača Aleksandar Šapić Dejan Savić Aleksandar Ćirić Danilo Ikodinović Viktor Jelenić Head Coach: Nenad Manojlović |
Participants: Russia, Italy, Spain, Australia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Fmr Yugoslavia, Croatia, Hungary, USA, Netherlands and Greece.
Final rankings
| Rank | Team |
| 4. | |
| 5. | |
| 6. | |
| 7. | |
| 8. | |
| 9. | |
| 10. | |
| 11. | |
| 12. |
Women's medallists
| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
Taryn Woods Debbie Watson Liz Weekes Danielle Woodhouse Bronwyn Mayer Gail Miller Melissa Mills Simone Hankin Yvette Higgins Kate Hooper Naomi Castle Joanne Fox Bridgette Gusterson Head Coach: István Görgényi | Brenda Villa Kathy Sheehy Coralie Simmons Julie Swail Courtney Johnson Maureen O'Toole Nicolle Payne Heather Petri Ericka Lorenz Heather Moody Bernice Orwig Robin Beauregard Ellen Estes Head Coach: Guy Baker | Ekaterina Vassilieva Elena Smurova Elena Tokoun Irina Tolkounova Ioulia Petrova Tatiana Petrova Galina Rytova Maria Koroleva Natalia Koutouzova Svetlana Kouzina Marina Akobia Ekaterina Anikeeva Sofia Konoukh Head Coach: Serguei Frolov |
Final rankings
| Rank | Team |
| 4. | |
| 5. | |
| 6. |