Water polo at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament facts for kids
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| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  France |
| City | Paris |
| Venue(s) | Paris Aquatic Centre Paris La Défense Arena |
| Dates | 28 July – 11 August |
| Teams | 12 (from 4 confederations) |
| Competitors | 144 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Serbia (3rd title) |
| Runners-up |  Croatia |
| Third place |  United States |
| Fourth place |  Hungary |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches | 42 |
| Goals scored | 895 (21.31 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Dušan Mandić (26 goals) |
The men's water polo tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics was a big event held in Paris, France. It took place from July 28 to August 11, 2024. Games were played at the Paris Aquatic Centre and the Paris La Défense Arena. This was the 28th time water polo has been an official sport at the Olympics. Serbia won their third gold medal, beating Croatia in the final. The United States team earned the bronze medal by defeating Hungary.
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How Teams Qualified for the Olympics
Teams had to earn their spot in the Olympic tournament. They qualified through different international competitions. These included the World Championships and special Olympic qualification tournaments. Only the best 12 teams from around the world made it to Paris.
How the Tournament Worked
The twelve teams were first divided into two groups. Each group had six teams. In this first round, called the preliminary round, every team played against every other team in their group once.
After the preliminary round, the top four teams from each group moved on. These eight teams went into the knockout round. The teams that finished fifth and sixth in their groups were eliminated.
The knockout round was like a bracket. It started with quarterfinals. The winners of these games went to the semifinals. The teams that lost in the quarterfinals then played games to decide places 5 through 8. The two winners of the semifinals played for the gold medal. The two losers played for the bronze medal.
Tournament Schedule
The water polo competition started on July 28. Matches were held every other day.
| G | Group stage | ¼ | Quarterfinals | ½ | Semifinals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Gold medal match |
| Sun 28 | Mon 29 | Tue 30 | Wed 31 | Thu 1 | Fri 2 | Sat 3 | Sun 4 | Mon 5 | Tue 6 | Wed 7 | Thu 8 | Fri 9 | Sat 10 | Sun 11 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | G | G | G | G | ¼ | ½ | B | F | |||||||
Team Groupings
The teams were put into groups on February 17, 2024. This happened in Doha, Qatar. Teams were placed into different "pots" based on their rankings. This helped make sure the groups were fair.
How Teams Were Seeded
The twelve men's teams were split into two groups of six. Here's how they were seeded:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hungary Greece |
Croatia Spain |
 Australia United States |
 Japan Romania |
 Italy Serbia |
 Montenegro France (hosts) |
Preliminary Round Games
The preliminary round saw exciting matches as teams fought for a spot in the knockout stage. The top four teams from each group moved on.
Group A Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PSW | PSL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference.
Group B Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PSW | PSL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference.
Knockout Stage: The Finals Begin!
This is where the competition got really intense. Teams played single-elimination games. This means if you lost, you were out of the running for a medal.
Medal Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal | ||||||||
| 7 August | ||||||||||
| Greece |
11 | |||||||||
| 9 August | ||||||||||
| Serbia |
12 | |||||||||
| Serbia |
10 | |||||||||
| 7 August | ||||||||||
| United States |
6 | |||||||||
| United States (PSO) |
7 (4) | |||||||||
| 11 August | ||||||||||
| Australia |
7 (3) | |||||||||
| Serbia |
13 | |||||||||
| 7 August | ||||||||||
| Croatia |
11 | |||||||||
| Italy |
9 (1) | |||||||||
| 9 August | ||||||||||
| Hungary (PSO) |
9 (3) | |||||||||
| Hungary |
8 | |||||||||
| 7 August | ||||||||||
| Croatia |
9 | Bronze medal | ||||||||
| Croatia |
10 | |||||||||
| 11 August | ||||||||||
| Spain |
8 | |||||||||
| United States (PSO) |
8 (3) | |||||||||
| Hungary |
8 (0) | |||||||||
- Fifth Place Bracket
| 5–8th place semifinals | Fifth place | |||||
| 9 August | ||||||
| Greece |
15 | |||||
| 11 August | ||||||
| Australia |
9 | |||||
| Greece |
15 | |||||
| 9 August | ||||||
| Spain |
13 | |||||
| Italy |
9 | |||||
| Spain |
11 | |||||
| Seventh place | ||||||
| 10 August | ||||||
| Australia |
6 | |||||
| Italy |
10 | |||||
Final Standings
Here's how all the teams ranked at the end of the tournament:
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Top Goal Scorers
These players scored the most goals during the tournament.
| Rank | Name | Goals | Shots | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dušan Mandić |
26 | 49 | 53 |
| 2 | Loren Fatović |
22 | 44 | 50 |
| 3 | Yusuke Inaba |
21 | 45 | 47 |
| 4 | Álvaro Granados |
20 | 51 | 39 |
| 5 | Stylianos Argyropoulos |
18 | 41 | 44 |
| Hannes Daube |
31 | 58 | ||
| 7 | Konstantin Kharkov |
17 | 35 | 49 |
| 8 | Milos Maksimovic |
16 | 39 | 41 |
| Alberto Munárriz |
43 | 37 | ||
| Bernat Sanahuja |
38 | 42 |
Medal Winners
Here are the teams and players who won medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics water polo tournament:
| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
 Serbia (SRB)
Radoslav Filipović (GK) Dušan Mandić Strahinja Rašović Sava Ranđelović Miloš Ćuk Nikola Dedović Radomir Drašović Nikola Jakšić (C) Nemanja Ubović Nemanja Vico Petar Jakšić Viktor Rašović Vladimir Mišović (GK) Head coach: Uroš Stevanović |
 Croatia (CRO)
Marko Bijač (GK, C) Rino Burić Loren Fatović Luka Lončar Maro Joković Luka Bukić Ante Vukičević Marko Žuvela Jerko Marinić Kragić Josip Vrlić Matias Biljaka Konstantin Kharkov Toni Popadić (GK) Head coach: Ivica Tucak |
 United States (USA)
Adrian Weinberg (GK) Johnny Hooper Marko Vavic Alex Obert Hannes Daube Luca Cupido Ben Hallock (C) Dylan Woodhead Alex Bowen Chase Dodd Ryder Dodd Max Irving Drew Holland (GK) Head coach: Dejan Udovičić |
See also
