Water polo at the Summer Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Water polo at the Summer Olympics
Governing body	FINA
Events	2 (men: 1; women: 1)
Games
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 Note: demonstration or exhibition sport years indicated in italics
Medalists
Overall statistics (men • women) Champions (men • women) Team appearances (men • women) Player appearances (men • women) Top goalscorers (men • women) Goalkeepers (men • women) Flag bearers and oath takers Venues

Water polo at the 2004 Summer Olympics

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. 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

Water polo final at the 1908 London Olympics

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 2021, 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 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

Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center was used at the 2020 Olympics in water polo.

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.

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 as a full Olympic medal sport.

The bullet (•) denotes that it was contested as an unofficial sport.

Rules

Qualification Summary

Qualification

Since 2012, the qualifying process consists of five stages:

1. The team of the host nation qualifies automatically.
2. No more than one team qualifies as the top team in the FINA World League.
3. No more than three teams qualify as the top teams in the World Aquatics Championships.
4. No more than five teams qualify as the continental Olympic qualification tournament champions.
5. 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 (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 – UANA	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 (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 – UANA	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.

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
			Teams	Matches
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 with 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 with Bergvall system for third place
8	1932	4–13 August	5 teams	6 matches	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	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	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	25 July – 8 August 2021	12 teams	42 matches
#	Year	Dates	Teams	Matches	Competition format
			Number of

Women's tournament

#	Year	Dates	Number of		Competition format
			Teams	Matches
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	24 July – 7 August 2021	10 teams	32 matches

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
During an Olympic tournament	11	11	13	13
	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
During an Olympic tournament	13	13
	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.

Men's tournament

Results summary

#	Year	Hosts		Gold medal game				Bronze medal game				Number of teams
				Gold	Score	Silver		Bronze	Score	4th place
1	1900 Details	Paris		Great Britain (Mixed team) (Osborne Swimming Club)	7–2	Belgium (Brussels Swimming and Water Polo Club)		France (Mixed team) (Libellule de Paris) France (Pupilles de Neptune de Lille #2)				7
2	1904 Details	St. Louis		Water polo was an unofficial sport				Water polo was an unofficial sport
3	1908 Details	London		Great Britain	9–2	Belgium		Sweden		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	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		Serbia	13–10	Greece		Hungary	9–5	Spain		12
29	2024 Details	Paris										12

Sources:

• Official Reports (PDF): 1900–1996 (men's tournaments);
• Official Results Books (PDF): 2000–2020 (men's tournaments);
• Olympedia: 1900–2020 (men's tournaments);
• Sports Reference: 1900–2016 (men's tournaments).

Women's tournament

Results summary

#	Year	Hosts		Gold medal game				Bronze medal game				Number of teams
				Gold	Score	Silver		Bronze	Score	4th place
1	2000 Details	Sydney		Australia	4–3	United States		Russia	4–3	Netherlands		6
2	2004 Details	Athens		Italy	10–9 (aet)	Greece		United States	6–5	Australia		8
3	2008 Details	Beijing		Netherlands	9–8	United States		Australia	9–9 (aet) (3–2) (ps)	Hungary		8
4	2012 Details	London		United States	8–5	Spain		Australia	13–11 (aet)	Hungary		8
5	2016 Details	Rio		United States	12–5	Italy		Russia	12–12 (7–6) (ps)	Hungary		8
6	2020 Details	Tokyo		United States	14–5	Spain		Hungary	11–9	ROC		10
7	2024 Details	Paris										10

Sources:

• Official Results Books (PDF): 2000–2016 (women's tournaments);
• Olympedia: 2000–2016 (women's tournaments);
• Sports Reference: 2000–2016 (women's tournaments).

Overall medal table

The following table is pre-sorted by number of Olympic gold medals (in descending order), number of Olympic silver medals (in descending order), number of Olympic bronze medals (in descending order), name of the NOC (in ascending order), respectively. Last updated: 31 December 2021.

Italy is the only country to win both the men's and women's water polo tournaments at the Summer Olympics. Italy men's national team won gold medals at the 1948, 1960 and 1992 Olympics, while the women's team was Olympic champions in 2004.

Legend

• NOC^◊ – NOC that won medals in both the men's and women's tournaments
• NOC^† – Defunct NOC

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Hungary (HUN)◊	9	3	5	17
2	United States (USA)◊	4	6	5	15
3	Italy (ITA)◊	4	3	3	10
4	Yugoslavia (YUG)†	3	4	0	7
5	Great Britain (GBR)	3	0	0	3
6	Soviet Union (URS)†	2	2	3	7
7	Serbia (SRB)	2	0	2	4
8	Spain (ESP)◊	1	3	0	4
9	Croatia (CRO)	1	2	0	3
	Germany (GER)	1	2	0	3
11	Australia (AUS)	1	0	2	3
	France (FRA)	1	0	2	3
	Netherlands (NED)◊	1	0	2	3
14	Mixed team (ZZX)†	1	0	1	2
15	Belgium (BEL)	0	4	2	6
16	Greece (GRE)◊	0	2	0	2
17	Russia (RUS)◊	0	1	3	4
18	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	2	3
19	Serbia and Montenegro (SCG)†	0	1	1	2
20	Unified Team (EUN)†	0	0	1	1
	West Germany (FRG)†	0	0	1	1
Totals (21 entries)		34	34	35	103

Winning two medals in one edition of the Games

As of the 2020 Summer Olympics, four NOCs won two medals in one edition of the Games.

Legend

•     – Hosts

Year	Men's tournament				Women's tournament
	Gold	Silver	Bronze		Gold	Silver	Bronze
2000		Russia					Russia
2004
2008		United States				United States
2012
2016			Italy			Italy
2020			Hungary				Hungary

Water polo people at the opening and closing ceremonies

Flag bearers

Evert Kroon was the flag bearer for the Netherlands at the closing ceremony of the 1976 Olympics.

Some sportspeople were chosen to carry the national flag of their country at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games. As of the 2020 Summer Olympics, thirty water polo people from six continents were given the honour. Among them, three flag bearers won the tournament with his/her team.

Charles Smith, representing Great Britain, was the first water polo player to be a flag bearer at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

Six-time Olympian Manuel Estiarte of Spain was the flag bearer during the opening ceremony at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

After winning gold in the women's tournament, Carmela Allucci, the captain of the Italian women's water polo team, carried the national flag of Italy at the closing ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics, becoming the first female water polo player to be given the honour.

Legend

•  2008 O  – Opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics
•  2012 C  – Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics
•     – Hosts
•  Flag bearer  – Female flag bearer
• Flag bearer^‡ – Flag bearer who won the tournament with his/her team

Water polo people who were flag bearers at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games

#	Year	Country	Flag bearer	Birth	Age	Height	Team	Pos	Water polo tournaments						Period (age of first/last)	Medals				Ref
									1	2	3	4	5	6		G	S	B	T
1	1912 O	Great Britain	Charles Smith‡	1879	33	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	Great Britain	GK	1908	1912	1920	1924			16 years (29/45)	3	0	0	3
2	1920 O	Belgium	Victor Boin	1886	34		Belgium	FP	1908	1912					4 years (22/26)	0	1	1	2
3	1924 O	Great Britain	Arthur Hunt	1886	37		Great Britain	FP	1924						0 years (37/37)	0	0	0	0
4	1928 O	France	Jean Thorailler	1888	40		France	GK	1912	1920					8 years (24/32)	0	0	0	0
5	1948 O	Australia	Les McKay	1917	31		Australia	FP	1948						0 years (31/31)	0	0	0	0
6		Yugoslavia	Božo Grkinić	1913	34		Yugoslavia	FP	1948						0 years (34/34)	0	0	0	0
7	1952 O	Egypt	Ahmed Fouad Nessim	1924	27		Egypt	GK	1948	1952					4 years (23/27)	0	0	0	0
8	1956 O	Singapore	Lionel Chee	1931	25		Singapore	FP	1956						0 years (25/25)	0	0	0	0
9		Yugoslavia	Zdravko-Ćiro Kovačić	1925	31		Yugoslavia	GK	1948	1952	1956				8 years (23/31)	0	2	0	2
10	1968 O	Brazil	João Gonçalves	1934	33	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)	Brazil	FP	1960	1964	1968				8 years (25/33)	0	0	0	0
11		Netherlands	Fred van Dorp	1938	30	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	Netherlands	FP	1960	1964	1968				8 years (21/30)	0	0	0	0
11	1968 C	Netherlands	Fred van Dorp	1938	30	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	Netherlands	FP	1960	1964	1968				8 years (21/30)	0	0	0	0
12	1972 O	Yugoslavia	Mirko Sandić	1942	30	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	Yugoslavia	FP	1960	1964	1968	1972			12 years (18/30)	1	1	0	2
13	1976 C	Netherlands	Evert Kroon	1946	29	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)	Netherlands	GK	1968	1972	1976				8 years (22/29)	0	0	1	1
14	1980 O	Hungary	István Szívós Sr.	1920	59	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	Hungary	FP	1948	1952	1956				8 years (27/36)	2	1	0	3
15	1984 O	Netherlands	Ton Buunk	1952	31	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	Netherlands	FP	1972	1976	1980	1984			12 years (19/31)	0	0	1	1
16	1988 C	United States	Terry Schroeder	1958	29	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	United States	FP	1984	1988	1992				8 years (25/33)	0	2	0	2
17	1996 O	Croatia	Perica Bukić	1966	30	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	Yugoslavia	FP	1984	1988					12 years (18/30)	2	1	0	3
							Croatia	FP				1996
18		FR Yugoslavia	Igor Milanović	1965	30	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	Yugoslavia	FP	1984	1988					12 years (18/30)	2	0	0	2
							Yugoslavia	FP				1996
19	2000 O	Spain	Manuel Estiarte	1961	38	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)	Spain	FP	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	20 years (18/38)	1	1	0	2
20	2004 O	Croatia	Dubravko Šimenc	1966	37	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	Yugoslavia	FP	1988						16 years (21/37)	1	1	0	2
							Croatia	FP			1996	2000	2004
21	2004 C	Italy	Carmela Allucci‡	1970	34	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)	Italy	FP	2004						0 years (34/34)	1	0	0	1
22	2008 O	Montenegro	Veljko Uskoković	1971	37	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	Yugoslavia	FP	1996	2000					12 years (25/37)	0	0	1	1
							Montenegro	FP				2008
22	2008 C	Montenegro	Veljko Uskoković	1971	37	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	Yugoslavia	FP	1996	2000					12 years (25/37)	0	0	1	1
							Montenegro	FP				2008
23	2012 O	Hungary	Péter Biros	1976	36	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	Hungary	FP	2000	2004	2008	2012			12 years (24/36)	3	0	0	3
24	2016 O	Croatia	Josip Pavić	1982	34	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	Croatia	GK	2008	2012	2016				8 years (26/34)	1	1	0	2
25	2016 C	Montenegro	Predrag Jokić	1983	33	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	Serbia and Montenegro	FP	2004						12 years (21/33)	0	1	0	1
							Montenegro	FP		2008	2012	2016
26	2020 O	Serbia	Filip Filipović‡	1987	34	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	Serbia	FP	2008	2012	2016	2020			13 years (21/34)	2	0	2	4
27		Montenegro	Draško Brguljan	1984	36	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)	Montenegro	FP	2008	2012	2016	2020			13 years (23/36)	0	0	0	0
28	2020 C	Greece	Ioannis Fountoulis	1988	33	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	Greece	FP	2012	2016	2020				9 years (24/33)	0	1	0	1
29		Croatia	Andro Bušlje	1986	35	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)	Croatia	FP	2008	2012	2016	2020			13 years (22/35)	1	1	0	2
30		Montenegro	Dušan Matković	1999	22	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	Montenegro	FP	2020						0 years (22/22)	0	0	0	0
#	Year	Country	Flag bearer	Birth	Age	Height	Team	Pos	1	2	3	4	5	6	Period (age of first/last)	G	S	B	T	Ref
									Water polo tournaments							Medals

Oath takers

Victor Boin was the Oath taker at the opening ceremony of the 1920 Olympics.

Some sportspeople from the host nations were chosen to take the Olympic Oath at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. As of the 2020 Summer Olympics, four water polo people were given the honour.

As an athlete, Victor Boin of Belgium took the first ever Olympic Oath at the 1920 Games in Antwerp.

Eugeni Asensio, a Spanish water polo referee, took the Officials' Oath at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

As a water polo referee, Australian Peter Kerr took the Officials' Oath at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Asumi Tsuzaki of Japan took the Officials' Oath at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, becoming the first female water polo referee to be given the honour.

Legend

•     – Hosts
•  Oath taker  – Female oath taker
• Oath taker^‡ – Oath taker who won the tournament with his/her team

Water polo people who were oath takers at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games

#	Year	Oath	Country	Oath taker	Birth	Age	Water polo tournament			Ref
1	1920	Athletes' Oath	Belgium	Victor Boin	1886	34	1908	1912	As player
2	1992	Officials' Oath	Spain	Eugeni Asensio			1992		As referee (official)
3	2000	Officials' Oath	Australia	Peter Kerr			1996	2000	As referee (official)
4	2020	Officials' Oath	Japan	Asumi Tsuzaki	1989	32	2020		As referee (official)

See also

In Spanish: Waterpolo en los Juegos Olímpicos para niños

• Water polo at the World Aquatics Championships
• FINA Water Polo World Rankings
• List of water polo world medalists
• Major achievements in water polo by nation