USA extend women’s water polo reign
The USA scooped women’s water polo gold at Rio 2016 to become the first team to successfully defend an Olympic title in the event.
The Americans saw off Italy 12-5 in the final to retain their London 2012 crown in style and maintain their record of winning a medal at every Games since women’s water polo was added to the Olympic programme in 2000. The reigning world champions were never headed in a final that brought together the only two teams who had gone undefeated in all five of their previous games at Rio 2016.
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Getty ImagesHungary defeat Spain to win bronze in men's water polo
The Hungarians secure their first medal since 1998 with a 9-5 win over the Spanish team.
Hungary have won the bronze medal in men’s water polo, topping Spain 9-5 at the Tokyo Olympics.
Marton Vamos scored two goals and Viktor Nagy made eight saves as Hungary rebounded from a disappointing 9-6 loss to Greece in the semifinals.
Hungary have won the most titles in men’s water polo with nine golds, but the bronze in Tokyo was the first medal since their run of three straight Olympic titles from 2000 to 2008. They finished fifth in London and Rio de Janeiro.
Hungary’s women’s water polo team also won bronze, beating ROC 11-9 on Saturday.
Spain dropped their last two games in Tokyo after opening with six straight wins. They lost 10-9 to Serbia on Friday night on Filip Filipovic’s tiebreaking goal with 26 seconds left.
Alberto Munarriz Egana scored two goals for Spain, and Daniel Lopez Pinedo had eight saves.
Serbia plays Greece for gold later Sunday.
Rio 2016: Local clubs put water polo facilities to the test
The main pool at the new Olympic Aquatics Stadium was put through its paces once again on 25-29 April, but this time with the focus switching from swimming to water polo.
A four-team tournament, featuring club teams from Rio, and serving as the official water polo test event, focused on a variety of aspects including the procedure for the medals ceremony and the Omega scoreboard.
Getty ImagesThe Olympic water polo tournament will take place on 6-20 August.
The men’s tournament will feature 12 teams, while the women’s will comprise eight teams. Both competitions will feature two initial group stages with teams playing each other in a round-robin format.
The early stages will take place outdoors, at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre, before the competition moves inside to the Olympic Aquatics stadium for the knockout stages on 14 August, once the swimming competitions have finished.