ACOG - Aquatics: Water Polo - IBM

Olympic Water Polo Overview

Rough, rugged and stunningly spectacular, the non-stop action of water polo made the sport the first team events contested at the Olympic Games. Nearly a century later, the sport could be the Games' most competitive.

Twelve teams — the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Russia, Germany and Yugoslavia in Group A and Italy, Ukraine, Croatia, Greece, Romania and the United States in Group B — will compete for the gold medal in one of the most evenly matched fields in the history of the Games.

The teams in the Centennial Olympic Games water polo tournament are no strangers to international success, and are certainly no strangers to each other. The squads have combined to win all seven previous world championships and 17 of the 21 Olympic gold medals awarded in the sport. Although the names and flags of some of the sport's top nations may have changed, many of the same athletes who earned medals for the Federal Republic of Germany, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union and the Unified Team are continuing the same tradition and success for Germany, Croatia, Russia and Ukraine.

The teams in the Olympic tournament also won't need a scouting report on their opponents. Long-time rivals in the pool, these teams have faced each other countless times in the medal rounds of the world's top championships. Although played in more than 100 countries worldwide, the sport is dominated by only a handful of teams.

Virtually the same squads simply exchanged places on the podium at the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup. The familiarity between the teams has produced some fierce rivalries, and the intensity and emotion will remain at their highest levels throughout the tournament.

Countries lacking a European heritage and a long water polo tradition often find the championship fraternity a difficult club to join. The United States is the only non-European team to win a water polo medal at the Olympic Games and that distinction won't change following the 1996 Games.

The teams earned their way to the games through top finishes at one of the two qualifying tournaments: the IX Water Polo World Cup held in Atlanta in September 1995, and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Berlin in February. Divided into an A Group and B Group, teams play a round-robin schedule within their pool. Standings in the preliminary round are based on points with 2 points awarded for each win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss.

Following preliminary play, the fifth- and sixth-place teams from each group form a Group C and continue play in a round-robin format to determine the 9th through 12th place teams.

The top four teams in each group advance to form a Group D, and compete in a modified single-elimination format culminating with the gold-medal match.

Group A teams may have the toughest time advancing to the next round. Six-time gold medal champion and World Cup winner Hungary heads the group of contenders, but any of the six teams could advance to the quarterfinal round. Olympic Qualifying Tournament champion Yugoslavia owns three Olympic gold medals of its own while Spain captured the silver medal in 1992. Members of the Russian squad helped the Unified team win a bronze medal at the 1992 Games while Germany and the Netherlands also rank among the Games' most successful teams.

The survivors of Group A will meet the top four teams from a similarly stacked Group B. Defending world and Olympic champion Italy heads the group along with the host United States. The two perennial powers will face Croatia, the fourth-place team at the 1994 World Championships, and Greece, the second-place team from the Berlin qualifying tournament in addition to surprising teams from Romania and Ukraine.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publication Department. Written by Howard Thomas.


Olympic Factoid
Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium.