Water polo at the Summer Olympics

Water polo at the Summer Olympics
Water polo at the Summer Olympics
Governing body	World Aquatics
Events	2 (men: 1; women: 1)
Summer Olympics
	1896; 1900; 1904; 1908; 1912; 1920; 1924; 1928; 1932; 1936; 1948; 1952; 1956; 1960; 1964; 1968; 1972; 1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1996; 2000; 2004; 2008; 2012; 2016; 2020; 2024; 2028;
	Medalists men; women; ;
	Champions (men • women); Records and statistics (men • women); Venues

Water polo 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.^[1]^[2] 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 (IOC) 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 (winning three or more Olympic titles in a row).

Hungary dominance

Hungary men's national water polo team has participated in 22 of 27 Olympic tournaments, with fifteen Olympic medals (nine gold, three silver and three bronze). 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.^[3]

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 (particularly in Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Spain), Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

As of 2016, 51 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) 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.

Paris 1900: Seine, Paris
St. Louis 1904: Forest Park, St. Louis
London 1908: White City Stadium, White City
Stockholm 1912: Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, Stockholm
Antwerp 1920: Stade Nautique d'Antwerp, Antwerp
Paris 1924: Piscine des Tourelles, Paris
Amsterdam 1928: Olympic Sports Park Swim Stadium, Amsterdam
Los Angeles 1932: Swimming Stadium, Los Angeles
Berlin 1936: Olympic Swimming Stadium, Berlin
London 1948: Empire Pool (final), Wembley; and Finchley Lido, North Finchley
Helsinki 1952: Swimming Stadium, Helsinki
Melbourne 1956: Swimming/Diving Stadium, Melbourne
Rome 1960: Piscina delle Rose and Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto (final), both in Rome
Tokyo 1964: Tokyo Metropolitan Indoor Swimming Pool, Tokyo
Mexico City 1968: Francisco Márquez Olympic Pool (final) and University City Swimming Pool, both in Mexico City
Munich 1972: Dantebad and Schwimmhalle (final), both in Munich
Montreal 1976: Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard and Olympic Pool (final), both in Montreal
Moscow 1980: Swimming Pool - Moscow and Swimming Pool - Olimpiysky (final), both in Moscow
Los Angeles 1984: Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool, Malibu, California
Seoul 1988: Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool, Seoul
Barcelona 1992: Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc and Piscines Bernat Picornell (final), both in Badalona
Atlanta 1996: Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta
Sydney 2000: Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre, Ryde; and Sydney International Aquatic Centre, Sydney
Athens 2004: Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre, Athens
Beijing 2008: Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing
London 2012: Water Polo Arena, London
Rio de Janeiro 2016: Maria Lenk Aquatic Center and Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro
Tokyo 2020: Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo

Sources:

Official Reports (PDF): 1900–1996;
Official Results Books (PDF): 2000–2016;
Olympedia: Water polo venues.

Events

Notes: The X indicates that the tournament was held on the appropriate olympic game; The bullet (•) denotes that it was contested as a demonstration sport.

Event	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	16	20	Games
Men's tournament		X	•	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	27
Women's tournament																								X	X	X	X	X	X	6

Total	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2

Rules

Qualification

Since 2012, the qualifying process consists of five stages:

The team of the host nation qualifies automatically.
No more than one team qualifies as the top team in the FINA World League.
No more than three teams qualify as the top teams in the World Aquatics Championships.
No more than five teams qualify as the continental Olympic qualification tournament champions.
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.

**Men's qualification**
Stage	Zone	Tournament	Berths
Stage	Zone	Tournament	2012	2016	2020
1	—	Host nation	1 (from Europe)	1 (from Americas)	1 (from Asia)
2	World – FINA	FINA Water Polo World League	1	1	1
3	World – FINA	World Aquatics Championships	3	2	2
4	Africa – CANA	African Continental Selection	0	0	1
	Americas – ASUA	Pan American Games	1	1	1
	Asia – AASF	Asian Water Polo Championship	1	1	1
	Europe – LEN	European Water Polo Championship	0	1	1
	Oceania – OSA	Oceanian Continental Selection	1	1	1
5	World – FINA	World Qualification Tournament	4	4	3
Total			12	12	12

**Women's qualification**
Stage	Zone	Tournament	Berths
Stage	Zone	Tournament	2012	2016	2020
1	—	Host nation	1 (from Europe)	1 (from Americas)	1 (from Asia)
2	World – FINA	FINA Water Polo World League	0	0	1
3	World – FINA	World Aquatics Championships	0	0	1
4	Africa – CANA	African Continental Selection	0	0	1
	Americas – ASUA	Pan American Games	1	0	1
	Asia – AASF	Asian Water Polo Championship	1	1	1
	Europe – LEN	European Water Polo Championship	0	1	1
	Oceania – OSA	Oceanian Continental Selection	1	1	1
5	World – FINA	World Qualification Tournament	4	4	2
Total			8	8	10

Players

Eligibility

According to the FINA General Rules^[4], the list below shows the requirements for a player to be eligible to play in international tournaments:

"GR 1.1: All competitors shall be registered with their National Federation to be eligible to compete."
"GR 2.5: When a competitor or competition official represents his/her country in a competition, he/she shall be a citizen, whether by birth or naturalisation, of the nation he/she represents, provided that a naturalised citizen shall have lived in that country for at least one year prior to that competition. Competitors, who have more than one nationality according to the laws of the respective nations must choose one 'Sport Nationality'. This choice shall be exercised by the first representation of the competitor for one of the countries."
"GR 2.6: Any competitor or competition official changing his sport nationality from one national governing body to another must have resided in the territory of and been under the jurisdiction of the latter for at least twelve months prior to his first representation for the country."

Competition format

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 (32 minutes), penalty shootouts, which is 5 rounds, plus extra rounds if tied, are used to determine the winner.

**Men's tournament**
#	Year	Dates	Number of		Competition format
#	Year	Dates	Teams	Matches	Competition format
1	1900	11–12 August	7 teams	6 matches	Single-elimination tournament
2	1904	5–6 September	3 teams	2 matches
3	1908	15–22 July	4 teams	4 matches
4	1912	7–16 July	6 teams	10 matches
5	1920	22–29 August	12 teams	19 matches	Single-elimination tournament; Bergvall system for second- and third-place
6	1924	13–20 July	13 teams	19 matches
7	1928	4–11 August	14 teams	18 matches	Single-elimination tournament; Bergvall system for third-place
8	1932	4–13 August	5 teams	8 matches^[a]	Round-robin tournament
9	1936	8–15 August	16 teams	40 matches	Round-robin pools advanced teams to the round-robin semi-final pool; round-robin semi-final pools advanced teams to the round-robin final pool
10	1948	28 July – 7 August	18 teams	40 matches^[b]	Series of round-robin elimination pools, followed by round-robin semi-final pools, and then round-robin final pools
11	1952	25 July – 2 August	21 teams	56 matches^[c]	Single-elimination tournament qualifying; round-robin pools advanced teams to the round-robin semi-final pool; round-robin semi-final pools advanced teams to the round-robin final pool
12	1956	28 November – 7 December	10 teams	29 matches	Round-robin pools advanced teams to the round-robin final pool
13	1960	25 August – 3 September	16 teams	40 matches	Round-robin pools advanced teams to the round-robin semi-final pool; round-robin semi-final pools advanced teams to the round-robin final pool
14	1964	11–18 October	13 teams	31 matches
15	1968	14–26 October	15 teams	63 matches	Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches
16	1972	27 August – 4 September	16 teams	59 matches	Round-robin pools advanced teams to the round-robin final pool
17	1976	18–27 July	12 teams	48 matches
18	1980	20–29 July	12 teams	48 matches
19	1984	1–10 August	12 teams	42 matches
20	1988	21 September – 1 October	12 teams	42 matches	Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches
21	1992	1–9 August	12 teams	42 matches
22	1996	20–28 July	12 teams	48 matches
23	2000	23 September – 1 October	12 teams	48 matches
24	2004	15-29 August	12 teams	44 matches
25	2008	10–24 August	12 teams	44 matches
26	2012	29 July – 12 August	12 teams	42 matches
27	2016	6–20 August	12 teams	42 matches
28	2020		12 teams
#	Year	Dates	Teams	Matches	Competition format
#	Year	Dates	Number of		Competition format

**Women's tournament**
#	Year	Dates	Number of		Competition format
#	Year	Dates	Teams	Matches	Competition format
1	2000	16–23 September	6 teams	20 matches	Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches
2	2004	16–26 August	8 teams	20 matches
3	2008	11–21 August	8 teams	20 matches
4	2012	30 July – 9 August	8 teams	24 matches
5	2016	9–19 August	8 teams	24 matches
6	2020		10 teams

Sources:

Official Reports (PDF): 1900–1996;
Official Results Books (PDF): 2000–2016;
Olympedia: 1900–2016;
Sports Reference: 1900–2016.

Game rules

Maximum number of players per team

**Men's tournament**
	Maximum number of players
	1900–1904	1908–1980	1984–2016	2020–
In the playing area of the pool during an Olympic match	7	7	7	7
During an Olympic match	11	11	13	12^[5]
During an Olympic tournament	11	11	13	13^[5]
	per club	per nation	per nation	per nation

**Women's tournament**
	Maximum number of players
	2000–2016	2020–
In the playing area of the pool during an Olympic match	7	7
During an Olympic match	13	12^[5]
During an Olympic tournament	13	13^[5]
	per nation	per nation

Sources:

Official Reports (PDF): 1900–1996;
Official Results Books (PDF): 2000–2016.

Anti-doping

The FINA follows the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) 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.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Men's tournaments

Results summary

#	Year^[10]	Hosts	Gold medal game			Bronze medal game			Number of teams
#	Year^[10]	Hosts	Gold	Score	Silver	Bronze	Score	4th place	Number of teams
1	1900 Details	Paris	Great Britain (Osborne Swimming Club)	7–2	Belgium (Brussels Swimming and Water Polo Club)	France (Libellule de Paris) France (Pupilles de Neptune de Lille #2)	^[d]		7
2	1904 Details	St. Louis	Water polo was a demonstration sport			Water polo was a demonstration sport
3	1908 Details	London	Great Britain	9–2^[e]	Belgium	Sweden	^[f]	Netherlands	4
4	1912 Details	Stockholm	Great Britain	8–0	Sweden	Belgium	5–4	Austria	6
5	1920 Details	Antwerp	Great Britain	3–2	Belgium	Sweden	5–0	United States	12
6	1924 Details	Paris	France	3–0	Belgium	United States	3–2	Sweden	13
7	1928 Details	Amsterdam	Germany	5–2	Hungary	France	8–1	Great Britain	14
8	1932 Details	Los Angeles	Hungary	Round-robin	Germany	United States	Round-robin	Japan	5
9	1936 Details	Berlin	Hungary	Round-robin	Germany	Belgium	Round-robin	France	16
10	1948 Details	London	Italy	Round-robin	Hungary	Netherlands	Round-robin	Belgium	18
11	1952 Details	Helsinki	Hungary	Round-robin	Yugoslavia	Italy	Round-robin	United States	21
12	1956 Details	Melbourne	Hungary	Round-robin	Yugoslavia	Soviet Union	Round-robin	Italy	10
13	1960 Details	Rome	Italy	Round-robin	Soviet Union	Hungary	Round-robin	Yugoslavia	16
14	1964 Details	Tokyo	Hungary	Round-robin	Yugoslavia	Soviet Union	Round-robin	Italy	13
15	1968 Details	Mexico City	Yugoslavia	13–11 (aet)	Soviet Union	Hungary	9–4	Italy	15
16	1972 Details	Munich	Soviet Union	Round-robin	Hungary	United States	Round-robin	West Germany	16
17	1976 Details	Montreal	Hungary	Round-robin	Italy	Netherlands	Round-robin	Romania	12
18	1980 Details	Moscow	Soviet Union	Round-robin	Yugoslavia	Hungary	Round-robin	Spain	12
19	1984 Details	Los Angeles	Yugoslavia	Round-robin	United States	West Germany	Round-robin	Spain	12
20	1988 Details	Seoul	Yugoslavia	9–7 (aet)	United States	Soviet Union	14–13	West Germany	12
21	1992 Details	Barcelona	Italy	9–8 (aet)	Spain	Unified Team	8–4	United States	12
22	1996 Details	Atlanta	Spain	7–5	Croatia	Italy	20–18 (aet)	Hungary	12
23	2000 Details	Sydney	Hungary	13–6	Russia	Yugoslavia^[g]	8–3	Spain	12
24	2004 Details	Athens	Hungary	8–7	Serbia and Montenegro	Russia	6–5	Greece	12
25	2008 Details	Beijing	Hungary	14–10	United States	Serbia	6–4	Montenegro	12
26	2012 Details	London	Croatia	8–6	Italy	Serbia	12–11	Montenegro	12
27	2016 Details	Rio	Serbia	11–7	Croatia	Italy	12–10	Montenegro	12
28	2020 Details	Tokyo							12
#	Year	Hosts	Gold	Score	Silver	Bronze	Score	4th place	Number of teams
#	Year	Hosts	Gold medal game			Bronze medal game			Number of teams

Sources:

Official Reports (PDF): 1900–1996 (men's tournaments);
Official Results Books (PDF): 2000–2016 (men's tournaments);
Olympedia: 1900–2016 (men's tournaments);
Sports Reference: 1900–2016 (men's tournaments).

Confederation statistics

Best performances by tournament

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – best performances of confederations

Team statistics

Player statistics

(C)	Captain	Apps	Appearances	Ref	Reference	Rk	Rank
L/R	Handedness	Pos	Playing position	FP	Field player	GK	Goalkeeper

Age records

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – age records

Multiple appearances (five-time Olympians)

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – multiple appearances

Multiple medalists

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – multiple medalists

Multiple gold medalists

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – multiple gold medalists

Top goalscorers by tournament

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – top goalscorers by tournament

All-time top goalscorers

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – all-time top goalscorers

Top goalkeepers and sprinters

Coach statistics

Ref	Reference	Rk	Rank
Pos	Playing position	FP	Field player	GK	Goalkeeper

Most successful coaches

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – most successful coaches

Medals as coach and player

Template:Men's Olympic water polo tournament statistics – medals as coach and player