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 was the first to win both the men's and women's water polo tournaments. Water polo is considered a disciplne of the Olympic sport of aquatics alongside artistic swimming, diving, marathon swimming and swimming.

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, three club teams of seven players each entered. A German team tried to enter, but its entry was refused because the players did not play for the same club. The event took place in a pond in Forest Park, the location of both the Olympics and the World's Fair. Previously, the International Olympic Committee and International Swimming Federation (FINA) considered the water polo event at the 1904 Olympics as a demonstration sport. However, in July 2021, after accepting the recommendation of Olympic historian Bill Mallon, the IOC recognized water polo along with several others as an official sport of the 1904 Olympic program. Water polo was not played at the 1906 Olympics.

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).

Hungarian 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 golds 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 referred 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 Zádor. 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 2012 to 2020, the United States women's team won three consecutive gold medals at the Summer Olympics, becoming the first women's water polo team to have an Olympic winning streak.

Geography

Water polo is now popular in many countries around the world, notably in 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 the 2020 Summer Olympics, 51 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) from six continents have sent their water polo teams to the Olympic Games. Men's water polo teams of European NOCs won all 27 official tournaments, while women's teams from Europe, North America and Oceania won all six 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 were the first Olympics in which water polo took place both indoors 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: 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 (finals), both in Barcelona 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 Aquatics Centre and Olympic Aquatics Stadium (finals), Rio de Janeiro Tokyo 2020: Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo Paris 2024: Paris Aquatic Centre and Paris La Défense Arena (finals) Los Angeles 2028: Long Beach Waterfront Brisbane 2032: Sleeman Centre

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

Events Notes X indicates that the tournament was held as a full Olympic medal 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 24 28 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 X X X 30 Women's tournament X X X X X X X X 8 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 2 2

Rules Qualification summary YearMW1900-1956No QualificationNo Tournament19601960 Men's Qualification19641964 Men's Qualification19681968 Men's Qualification19721972 Men's Qualification19761976 Men's Qualification19801980 Men's Qualification19841984 Men's Qualification19881988 Men's Qualification19921992 Men's Qualification19961996 Men's Qualification20002000 Men's Qualification2000 Women's Qualification20042004 Men's Qualification2004 Women's Qualification20082008 Men's Qualification2008 Women's Qualification20122012 Men's Qualification2012 Women's Qualification20162016 Men's Qualification2016 Women's Qualification20202020 Men's Qualification2020 Women's Qualification20242024 Men's Qualification2024 Women's Qualification20282028 Men's Qualification2028 Women's QualificationTotal177

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 2012 2016 2020 1 — Host nation 1 (fromEurope) 1 (fromAmericas) 1 (fromAsia) 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 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 2012 2016 2020 1 — Host nation 1 (fromEurope) 1 (fromAmericas) 1 (fromAsia) 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 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, 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 (which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), 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.