Water polo at the Summer Olympics


has been part of the Summer Olympics program since the second games, in 1900. A women's water polo tournament was introduced for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Hungary has been the most successful country in men's tournament, while the United States is the only team to win multiple times at the women's tournament since its introduction. Italy is the first and only country to win both the men's and women's water polo tournaments.

History

The history of water polo as a team sport began in mid 19th century England and Scotland, where water sports were a feature of county fairs and festivals. Water polo has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896. Women's water polo made its debut in the Summer Olympics in 2000.

Beginnings

Men's water polo was among the first team sports introduced at the modern Olympic games in 1900. Seven European teams from four countries, including four from the host nation France, took part in the competition. The British team was the inaugural champion.
At the 1904 Summer Olympics, a water polo tournament was contested, but only American contestants participated. Currently International Olympic Committee consider water polo event as part of unofficial program in 1904.
From 1908 to 1920, the Great Britain men's national water polo team won three consecutive gold medals at the Olympics, becoming the first water polo team to have an Olympic winning streak.

Hungary dominance

has participated in 22 of 27 Olympic tournaments, with fifteen Olympic medals. From 1928 to 1980, the Hungarians won twelve consecutive medals in water polo. Twenty years later, the team won three gold in a row between 2000 and 2008, becoming the second team to have an Olympic winning streak in water polo.

Blood in the Water match

The most famous water polo match in Olympic history often refers to as the Blood in the Water match, was a 1956 Summer Olympics semi-final match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, played in Melbourne on 6 December 1956. As the athletes left for the games, the Hungarian revolution began, and the Soviet army crushed the uprising. The match was bloody and violent. The Hungarians defeated the Soviets 4–0 before the game was called off in the final minute to prevent angry Hungarians in the crowd reacting to Soviet player Valentin Prokopov punching Hungarian player Ervin Zador. Pictures of Zádor's injuries were published around the world, leading to the "Blood in the Water" moniker.
The Hungarians went on to win the Olympic gold medal by defeating Yugoslavia 2–1 in the final.

Addition of women's program

Women's water polo became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Six nations competed in the women's tournament with home team Australia winning the gold medal over the United States.
From 2000 to 2016, the United States women's team won five consecutive medals in water polo.

Geography

Water polo is now popular in many countries around the world, notably Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States.
As of 2016, 51 National Olympic Committees from six continents have sent their water polo teams to the Summer Olympics. Men's water polo teams of ten European NOCs won all 26 official tournaments, while women's teams from Europe, North America and Oceania won all five gold medals. Water polo teams from Africa, Asia and South America have not won an Olympic medal yet.

Venues

For the Summer Olympics, there are 34 venues that have been or will be used for water polo.
The Seine in Paris hosted the first water polo competitions at the 1900 Olympics. The Forest Park in St. Louis hosted the water polo events for the 1904 Summer Olympics.
The first water polo venue not located on a river or a lake took place at the 1908 London Olympics. It was not until the 1920 Olympics that a separate venue was created for the aquatic venues. The 1948 Games was the first Olympics in water polo took place both indoor and in more than one venue. The first separate water polo venue that was not connected to other aquatic venues was at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
The Water Polo Arena of the 2012 London Olympics was the first dedicated water polo venue to be built for an Olympics, the structure was taken down after the games.
  1. Paris 1900: Seine, Paris
  2. St. Louis 1904: Forest Park, St. Louis
  3. London 1908: White City Stadium, White City
  4. Stockholm 1912: Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, Stockholm
  5. Antwerp 1920: Stade Nautique d'Antwerp, Antwerp
  6. Paris 1924: Piscine des Tourelles, Paris
  7. Amsterdam 1928: Olympic Sports Park Swim Stadium, Amsterdam
  8. Los Angeles 1932: Swimming Stadium, Los Angeles
  9. Berlin 1936: Olympic Swimming Stadium, Berlin
  10. London 1948: Empire Pool, Wembley; and Finchley Lido, North Finchley
  11. Helsinki 1952: Swimming Stadium, Helsinki
  12. Melbourne 1956: Swimming/Diving Stadium, Melbourne
  13. Rome 1960: Piscina delle Rose and Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto, both in Rome
  14. Tokyo 1964: Tokyo Metropolitan Indoor Swimming Pool, Tokyo
  15. Mexico City 1968: Francisco Márquez Olympic Pool and University City Swimming Pool, both in Mexico City
  16. Munich 1972: Dantebad and Schwimmhalle, both in Munich
  17. Montreal 1976: Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard and Olympic Pool, both in Montreal
  18. Moscow 1980: Swimming Pool - Moscow and Swimming Pool - Olimpiysky, both in Moscow
  19. Los Angeles 1984: Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool, Malibu, California
  20. Seoul 1988: Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool, Seoul
  21. Barcelona 1992: Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc and Piscines Bernat Picornell, both in Badalona
  22. Atlanta 1996: Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta
  23. Sydney 2000: Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre, Ryde; and Sydney International Aquatic Centre, Sydney
  24. Athens 2004: Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre, Athens
  25. Beijing 2008: Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing
  26. London 2012: Water Polo Arena, London
  27. Rio de Janeiro 2016: Maria Lenk Aquatic Center and Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro
  28. Tokyo 2020: Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo
Sources:
;Notes:
Event9600040812202428323648525660646872768084889296000408121620Games
Men's tournamentXWater polo at the 1904 Summer Olympics|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX27
Women's tournamentXXXXXX6
Total01111111111111111111111222222

Rules

Qualification

Since 2012, the qualifying process consists of five stages:
  1. The team of the host nation qualifies automatically.
  2. No more than one team qualifies as the top team in the FINA World League.
  3. No more than three teams qualify as the top teams in the World Aquatics Championships.
  4. No more than five teams qualify as the continental Olympic qualification tournament champions.
  5. No more than four teams qualify through a world qualifying tournament, in which the best teams which did not qualify directly from each continent compete for the remaining berths.

    Players

Eligibility

According to the FINA General Rules, the list below shows the requirements for a player to be eligible to play in international tournaments:
For both the men's and women's tournaments at the 2020 Olympics, the competition consists of a round-robin group stage followed by a knockout stage. Teams are placed into two groups, with each team playing each other team in its group once. Teams earn 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The top four teams in each group advance to the knockout rounds. The knockout rounds are a single-elimination tournament consisting of quarterfinals, semifinals, and the gold and bronze medal matches.
Matches consist of four quarters of eight minutes each. During the knockout rounds, if the score is tied after four quarters, penalty shootouts, which is 5 rounds, plus extra rounds if tied, are used to determine the winner.
Sources:

Maximum number of players per team

Sources:
The FINA follows the World Anti-Doping Agency's regulations on performance-enhancing drugs. According to the WADA, a positive in-competition test results in disqualification of the player and a suspension that varies based on the number of offences. When a player tests positive, the rest of their team is subjected to testing; another positive test can result in a disqualification of the entire team.

Men's tournaments

Results summary

Sources:

Best performances by tournament

Team statistics

Participating teams

Finishes in the top four

Medal table

Champions (results and squads)

Player statistics

CaptainAppsAppearancesRefReferenceRkRank
L/RHandednessPosPlaying positionFPField playerGKGoalkeeper

Age records

Multiple appearances (five-time Olympians)

Multiple medalists

Multiple gold medalists

Top goalscorers by tournament

All-time top goalscorers

Top goalkeepers and sprinters

Coach statistics

RefReferenceRkRank
PosPlaying positionFPField playerGKGoalkeeper

Most successful coaches

Medals as coach and player

Women's tournaments

Results summary

Sources:

Best performances by tournament

Team statistics

Participating teams

Finishes in the top four

Medal table

Champions (results and squads)

Player statistics

CaptainAppsAppearancesRefReferenceRkRank
L/RHandednessPosPlaying positionFPField playerGKGoalkeeper

Age records

Multiple appearances (four-time Olympians)

Multiple medalists

Multiple gold medalists

Top goalscorers by tournament

All-time top goalscorers

Top goalkeepers and sprinters

Coach statistics

RefReferenceRkRank
PosPlaying positionFPField playerGKGoalkeeper

Most successful coaches

Medals as coach and player

Overall medal table

The following table is pre-sorted by number of Olympic gold medals, number of Olympic silver medals, number of Olympic bronze medals, name of the NOC, respectively.
Italy is the only country to win both the men's and women's water polo tournaments at the Summer Olympics. Italy men's national team were Olympic champions in 1948, 1960 and 1992, while the women's team won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.
;Legend
Some sportspeople were chosen to carry the national flag of their country at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games. As of the 2016 Summer Olympics, twenty-four water polo people were given the honour.
Charles Smith, representing Great Britain, was the first water polo player to be a flag bearer at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
Victor Boin was the Belgium flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 1920 Games in Antwerp, where he took the first ever Olympic Oath.
Six-time Olympian Manuel Estiarte of Spain was the flag bearer during the opening ceremony at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
;Legend