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Water Polo - Summer Olympic Sport

The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org/web/20171119021948/https://www.olympic.org/water-polo

Water Polo

Men's events

12 team tournament men

Women’s events

8 team tournament women

Water Polo News

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Sydney 2000
Manuel Estiarte: “Going to the Closing Ceremony as Olympic champions was incredible”
20 Oct 2017
RIO 2016
More water polo success for USA’s women, as Serbian men strike maiden gold
15 Sep 2016
RIO 2016
Serbia celebrate long-awaited water polo gold
20 Aug 2016
RIO 2016
USA extend women’s water polo reign
19 Aug 2016
RIO 2016
From near death to five time Olympian for Rio-born Azevedo
06 Aug 2016
RIO 2016
Local favourite Izabella Chiappini relishing first Olympic experience
20 Jul 2016
RIO 2016
Rio 2016: Local clubs put water polo facilities to the test
03 May 2016
London 2012
Croatia and USA sparkle in Water Polo - London 2012
12 Aug 2012
London 2012
USA make a splash for gold - London 2012 - Water Polo
09 Aug 2012
London 2012
Italy send champions out - London 2012 - Water Polo
08 Aug 2012
London 2012
Champions make waves - London 2012 - Water Polo
06 Aug 2012
London 2012
Women's semi-finals in sight - London 2012 - Water Polo
05 Aug 2012
London 2012
Italy and Croatia impress - London 2012 - Water Polo
04 Aug 2012
London 2012
Croatia, Spain record wins - London 2012 - Water Polo
03 Aug 2012
London 2012
Women's line-up decided - London 2012 - Water polo
03 Aug 2012
London 2012
Russia on a march, USA and Spain share spoils - London 2012 - Water Polo
01 Aug 2012
London 2012
Italy start title attempt with a win - London 2012 - Water Polo
30 Jul 2012

Water polo developed into different forms in the United States and Europe. The European game is now universally accepted.

Tough beginnings

Water polo is a tough sport, but when it first began it was even tougher. Fighting between players was common, if not the norm. In 1897, New Yorker Harold Reeder formulated the first American rules for discipline, which were aimed at curbing the sport’s more violent tendencies.

Naming the game

In the early days, the players rode on floating barrels that resembled mock horses, and swung at the ball with mallet-like sticks. This made it similar to equestrian polo, hence its name. In the United States it was termed softball water polo due to the use of an unfilled bladder as a ball.

Current sport

Water polo was developed in Europe and the United States as two differing sports. Ultimately, the faster, less dangerous European style predominated, and today this is the form of the game practised universally. It consists of seven-man teams playing four seven-minute periods.

Olympic history

Water polo made its Olympic debut at the Paris Games in 1900. It was not included in 1904 but would be present at each subsequent edition of the Olympic Games.
Since then, the Hungarians have been by far the greatest ambassadors of this discipline. Between 1928 and 1980, they won medals at every Games. Between 1932 and 1976, they even won six of the 10 gold medals available.

In 2000 in Sydney, Hungary make a remarkable comeback, winning its seventh gold medal in water polo. In the same year, women’s water polo made its first official appearance at the Olympic Games, 100 years after the debut of this discipline.