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, Italy, Spain, the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavian teams have historically dominated the men's tournament, while Australia and the United States are the only teams to win multiple medals at the women's tournament since its introduction.
The most famous water polo match in history is probably the 1956 Summer Olympics semi-final match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which became known as the "Blood in the Water match". As the athletes left for the games, the Hungarian revolution began, and the Soviet army crushed the uprising. The Hungarians defeated the Soviets 4â€"0 before the game was called off in the final minute to prevent angry Hungarians in the crowd reacting to Valentin Prokopov punching Ervin Zador's eye open.
Events
- Notes
- The X indicates that the tournament was held on the appropriate olympic game
- The bullet (•) denotes that it was contested as a demonstration sport.
Results
Men
Women
Participating nations
Men
(Note: Where applicable, numbers refer to the number of teams from each country; italic number in header means demonstration tournament was held)
Women
Medal table
Men
Women
Total
See also
- List of Olympic venues in water polo
References
