Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Water polo
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad

Tournament details
Host country	United Kingdom
City	London
Venue(s)	Water Polo Arena
Dates	29 July - 12 August 2012
Events	2 (men's, women's)
Teams	12 (men's), 8 (women's) (from 4 confederations)
Competitors	155 men, 102 women
Final positions
Champions	Croatia (men)  United States (women)
Runners-up	Italy (men)  Spain (women)
Third place	Serbia (men)  Australia (women)
Fourth place	Montenegro (men)  Hungary (women)
Tournament statistics (men, women)
Matches	66
Goals scored	1,231 (18.65 per match)
Multiple appearances	5-time Olympian(s): 3 players 4-time Olympian(s): 17 players
Multiple medalists	4-time medalist(s): 2 players 3-time medalist(s): 5 players
MVPs	Josip Pavić (men's) Maggie Steffens (women's)

The water polo tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the London 2012 Water Polo Arena in the Olympic Park from 29 July to 12 August. The venue's capacity held 5,000 spectators. Twelve teams competed in the men's tournament and eight teams in the women's tournament.^[1]

Qualification

Aerial view of the Water Polo Arena, a temporary venue built for Water Polo competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Both of Great Britain's teams automatically qualified, while the African qualification tournament was cancelled due as no teams entered, increasing the available spots at each final qualification tournament to four.^[2][3]

Men

Main article: Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

Means of qualification	Date	Venue	Number of berths	Nation(s) qualified
Host nation	–	–	1	Great Britain
2011 World League Super-Final	21–26 June 2011	Florence, Italy	1	Serbia
2011 FINA World Championships	16–31 July 2011	Shanghai, China	3	Italy  Croatia  Hungary
2011 Pan American Games	23–29 October 2011	Guadalajara, Mexico	1	United States
2012 Asian Water Polo Championship	23–29 January 2012	Chiba City, Japan	1	Kazakhstan
Oceania	–	–	1	Australia
World Qualification Tournament	1–8 April 2012	Edmonton, Canada[4]	4	Montenegro  Spain  Greece  Romania
Total			12

Women

Main article: Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

Means of qualification	Date	Venue	Number of berths	Nation(s) qualified
Host nation	–	–	1	Great Britain
2011 Pan American Games	23–28 October 2011	Guadalajara, Mexico	1	United States
2012 Asian Water Polo Championship	23–29 January 2012	Chiba City, Japan	1	China
Oceania	–	–	1	Australia
World Qualification Tournament	15–22 April 2012	Trieste, Italy[4]	4	Spain  Italy  Russia  Hungary
Total			8

Draw

The draw for the Olympic tournament took place in May 2012. The men were drawn into two groups of six teams, the women were drawn into two groups of four teams.^[5]

Men's competition

Group A	Group B
Greece  Italy  Kazakhstan  Spain  Australia  Croatia	Hungary  Montenegro  Romania  Great Britain  United States  Serbia

Women's competition

Group A	Group B
Hungary  Spain  China  United States	Italy  Great Britain  Russia  Australia

Medal summary

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Croatia	1	0	0	1
	United States	1	0	0	1
3	Italy	0	1	0	1
	Spain	0	1	0	1
5	Australia	0	0	1	1
	Serbia	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		2	2	2	6

Events

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men	Croatia (CRO)[1] Josip Pavić Damir Burić Miho Bošković Nikša Dobud Maro Joković Petar Muslim Ivan Buljubašić Andro Bušlje Sandro Sukno Samir Barać Igor Hinić Paulo Obradović Frano Vićan	Italy (ITA) Stefano Tempesti Amaurys Pérez Niccolò Gitto Pietro Figlioli Alex Giorgetti Maurizio Felugo Massimo Giacoppo Valentino Gallo Christian Presciutti Deni Fiorentini Matteo Aicardi Danijel Premuš Giacomo Pastorino	Serbia (SRB) Slobodan Soro Aleksa Šaponjić Živko Gocić Vanja Udovičić Dušan Mandić Duško Pijetlović Slobodan Nikić Milan Aleksić Nikola Rađen Filip Filipović Andrija Prlainović Stefan Mitrović Gojko Pijetlović
Women	United States (USA)[1] Elizabeth Armstrong Heather Petri Melissa Seidemann Brenda Villa Lauren Wenger Maggie Steffens Courtney Mathewson Jessica Steffens Elsie Windes Kelly Rulon Annika Dries Kami Craig Tumua Anae	Spain (ESP) Laura Ester Marta Bach Anni Espar Roser Tarragó Matilde Ortiz Jennifer Pareja Lorena Miranda María del Pilar Peña Andrea Blas Ona Meseguer María García Godoy Laura López Ana Copado	Australia (AUS) Victoria Brown Gemma Beadsworth Sophie Smith Holly Lincoln-Smith Jane Moran Bronwen Knox Rowena Webster Kate Gynther Glencora Ralph Ashleigh Southern Melissa Rippon Nicola Zagame Alicia McCormack

References

1. "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. pp. 4, 56. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
2. "Water Polo qualification" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
3. "2012 Olympic Games". Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
4. "FINA selects Catania, Casablanca as future host cities; Creates Open Water "School for Officials"". Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
5. "Draw announced for Olympic Water Polo competition". Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.

Sources

• PDF documents on the FINA website:
  • Official Results Book – 2012 Olympic Games – Diving, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo (archive) (pp. 284–507)
• Water polo on the Olympedia website
  • Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics (men's tournament, women's tournament)
• Water polo on the Sports Reference website
  • Water polo at the 2012 Summer Games (men's tournament, women's tournament) (archived)

External links

Media related to Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics at Wikimedia Commons

• Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics. London2012.com. at the UK Government Web Archive (archived 28 February 2013)
• Official results book – Water Polo. London2012.com. at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 April 2013)
• Water Polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics at SR/Olympics (archived)