# Water polo at the 2016 Summer Olympics

The water polo tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 20 August at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Barra da Tijuca. Twenty teams (twelve for men and eight for women) competed in the tournament. Games that ended in ties in elimination rounds were decided by shootouts, as overtime has been abolished since 2013.

## Qualification
### Men's qualification

| Qualification | Date | Host | Berths | Qualified |
| Host nation | 2 October 2009 | Copenhagen | 1 | Brazil |
| 2015 FINA World League | 23–28 June 2015 | Bergamo | 1 | Serbia |
| 2015 Pan American Games | 7–15 July 2015 | Toronto | 1 | United States |
| 2015 FINA World Championships | 27 July – 8 August 2015 | Kazan | 2 | Croatia |
| 2015 FINA World Championships | 27 July – 8 August 2015 | Kazan | 2 | Greece |
| Oceanian Continental Selection | 19 October 2015 | Perth | 1 | Australia |
| 2015 Asian Championship | 16–20 December 2015 | Foshan | 1 | Japan |
| 2016 European Championships | 10–23 January 2016 | Belgrade | 1 | Montenegro |
| World Qualification Tournament | 3–10 April 2016 | Trieste | 4 | Hungary |
| World Qualification Tournament | 3–10 April 2016 | Trieste | 4 | Italy |
| World Qualification Tournament | 3–10 April 2016 | Trieste | 4 | Spain |
| World Qualification Tournament | 3–10 April 2016 | Trieste | 4 | France |
| Total | | | 12 | |

### Women's qualification

| Qualification | Date | Host | Berths | Qualified |
| Host nation | 2 October 2009 | Copenhagen | 1 | Brazil |
| Oceanian Continental Selection | 19 October 2015 | Perth | 1 | Australia |
| 2015 Asian Championship | 16–17 December 2015 | Foshan | 1 | China |
| 2016 European Championships | 10–22 January 2016 | Belgrade | 1 | Hungary |
| World Qualification Tournament | 21–28 March 2016 | Gouda | 4 | United States |
| World Qualification Tournament | 21–28 March 2016 | Gouda | 4 | Italy |
| World Qualification Tournament | 21–28 March 2016 | Gouda | 4 | Russia |
| World Qualification Tournament | 21–28 March 2016 | Gouda | 4 | Spain |
| Total | | | 8 | |

## Competition schedule

| G | Group stage | QF | Quarter-finals | SF | Semi-finals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Final |
| DateEvent | Sat 6 | Sun 7 | Mon 8 | Tue 9 | Wed 10 | Thu 11 | Fri 12 | Sat 13 | Sun 14 | Mon 15 | Tue 16 | Wed 17 | Thu 18 | Fri 19 | Fri 19 | Sat 20 | Sat 20 |
| Men | G | | G | | G | | G | | G | | QF | | SF | | | B | F |
| Women | | | | G | | G | | G | | QF | | SF | | B | F | | |

## Men's competition

The competition consisted of two stages; a group stage followed by a knockout stage.

### Group stage

The teams were divided into two groups of six countries, playing every team in their group once. Two points were awarded for a victory, one point for a draw. The top four teams per group qualified for the quarterfinals.

#### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Hungary | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 57 | 43 | +14 | 7 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Greece | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Brazil (H) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 40 | 39 | +1 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Serbia | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Australia | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 44 | 40 | +4 | 5 | |
| 6 | Japan | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 36 | 61 | −25 | 0 | |

#### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Spain | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 46 | 35 | +11 | 7 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Croatia | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Italy | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 40 | 41 | −1 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Montenegro | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 36 | 32 | +4 | 5 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | United States | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 4 | |
| 6 | France | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 42 | −14 | 2 | |

### Knockout stage

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Gold medal | Gold medal |
| 16 August | 16 August | | | |
| Hungary | 9 (2) | | | |
| Hungary | 9 (2) | 18 August | 18 August | | |
| Montenegro (pen.) | 9 (4) | 18 August | 18 August | |
| Montenegro (pen.) | 9 (4) | Montenegro | 8 | |
| 16 August | 16 August | | Montenegro | 8 | |
| 16 August | 16 August | Croatia | 12 | |
| Brazil | 6 | Croatia | 12 | |
| Brazil | 6 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| Croatia | 10 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| Croatia | 10 | | | | Croatia | 7 |
| 16 August | 16 August | | | | | Croatia | 7 |
| 16 August | 16 August | | | | Serbia | 11 |
| Greece | 5 | | | | Serbia | 11 |
| Greece | 5 | 18 August | 18 August | | | |
| Italy | 9 | 18 August | 18 August | | | |
| Italy | 9 | Italy | 8 | | | |
| 16 August | 16 August | | Italy | 8 | | | |
| 16 August | 16 August | Serbia | 10 | | Bronze medal | Bronze medal |
| Serbia | 10 | Serbia | 10 | | Bronze medal | Bronze medal |
| Serbia | 10 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| Spain | 7 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| Spain | 7 | | | | Montenegro | 10 |
| | | | | | Italy | 12 |

## Women's competition

The competition consisted of two stages; a group stage followed by a knockout stage.

### Group stage

The teams were divided into two groups of four countries, playing every team in their group once. Two points were awarded for a victory, one for a draw. All teams qualified for the quarterfinals.

#### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Italy | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 15 | +12 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Australia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 15 | +16 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Russia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 31 | −8 | 2 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Brazil (H) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 33 | −20 | 0 | Quarter-finals |

#### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 14 | +20 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Spain | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 29 | −2 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Hungary | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 2 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 37 | −14 | 0 | Quarter-finals |

### Knockout stage

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Gold medal match | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| A1 | Italy | 12 | | | | | | |
| B4 | China | 7 | | | | | | |
| B4 | China | 7 | A3 | Russia | 9 | | | |
| | | | A1 | Italy | 12 | | | |
| A3 | Russia | 12 | A1 | Italy | 12 | | | |
| B2 | Spain | 10 | | | | | | |
| B2 | Spain | 10 | | | | | United States | 12 |
| | | | | | | | Italy | 5 |
| A2 | Australia | 11 | | | | | | | Italy | 5 |
| B3 | Hungary | 13 | | | |
| B3 | Hungary | 13 | B3 | Hungary | 10 | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| | | | B1 | United States | 14 |
| A4 | Brazil | 3 | B1 | United States | 14 | 4 | Hungary | 18 |
| B1 | United States | 13 | | | | | Russia (PSO) | 19 |

## Medal summary
### Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Serbia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | United States | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Italy | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Russia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (5 entries) | Totals (5 entries) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |

### Medalists

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men details | Serbia (SRB) Gojko Pijetlović Dušan Mandić Živko Gocić Sava Ranđelović Miloš Ćuk Duško Pijetlović Slobodan Nikić Milan Aleksić Nikola Jakšić Filip Filipović Andrija Prlainović Stefan Mitrović Branislav Mitrović | Croatia (CRO) Josip Pavić Damir Burić Antonio Petković Luka Lončar Maro Joković Luka Bukić Xavier García Andro Bušlje Sandro Sukno Ivan Krapić Anđelo Šetka Marko Macan Marko Bijač | Italy (ITA) Stefano Tempesti Francesco Di Fulvio Niccolò Gitto Pietro Figlioli Alessandro Velotto Michaël Bodegas Andrea Fondelli Valentino Gallo Christian Presciutti Nicholas Presciutti Matteo Aicardi Alessandro Nora Marco Del Lungo |
| Women details | United States (USA) Samantha Hill Madeline Musselmann Melissa Seidemann Rachel Fattal Aria Fischer Maggie Steffens Courtney Mathewson Kiley Neushul Caroline Clark Kaleigh Gilchrist Makenzie Fischer Kami Craig Ashleigh Johnson | Italy (ITA) Giulia Gorlero Chiara Tabani Arianna Garibotti Elisa Queirolo Federica Radicchi Rosaria Aiello Tania Di Mario Roberta Bianconi Giulia Enrica Emmolo Francesca Pomeri Aleksandra Cotti Teresa Frassinetti Laura Teani | Russia (RUS) Anna Ustyukhina Maria Borisova Ekaterina Prokofyeva Elvina Karimova Nadezhda Fedotova Olga Belova Ekaterina Lisunova Anastasia Simanovich Anna Timofeeva Evgenia Soboleva Evgeniya Ivanova Anna Grineva Anna Karnaukh |