Water_polo_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics Knowpia

Water polo
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Tournament details
Host country	United States
City	Atlanta
Venue(s)	Georgia Tech Aquatic Center
Dates	20 July 1996 – 28 July 1996
Event	1 (men's)
Teams	12 (from 3 confederations)
Competitors	153
Final positions
Champions	Spain (1st title)
Runners-up	Croatia
Third place	Italy
Fourth place	Hungary
Tournament statistics
Matches	48
Multiple; appearances	5-time Olympian(s): 1; 4-time Olympian(s): 3
Top scorer(s)	Tibor Benedek (19 goals)
Most saves	Arie van de Bunt (81 saves)
	← 1992 2000 →

The water polo tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held from 20 to 28 July 1996, in Atlanta, United States.^[1]^[2]

Qualification edit

Qualification	Date	Host	Berths	Qualified
Host nation	18 September 1990	Tokyo	1	United States
1995 World Cup	12-17 September 1995	Atlanta	3	Hungary
				Italy
				Russia
1994 World Championships	2-10 September 1994	Rome	2	Spain
1994 World Championships	2-10 September 1994	Rome	2	Croatia
Intercontinental qualification	10-18 February 1996	Berlin	6	Yugoslavia Greece Netherlands Ukraine Germany Romania
Total			12

Teams edit

GROUP A

GROUP B

Squads edit

Preliminary round edit

Group A edit

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hungary	5	5	0	0	47	38	+9	10
2	Yugoslavia	5	3	1	1	46	44	+2	7
3	Spain	5	3	0	2	39	33	+6	6
4	Russia	5	2	1	2	42	38	+4	5
5	Germany	5	1	0	4	36	45	−9	2
6	Netherlands	5	0	0	5	36	48	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Saturday 20 July 1996


Hungary	8 – 7	Russia
Spain	9 – 3	Germany
Yugoslavia	11 – 8	Netherlands

Sunday 21 July 1996


Hungary	9 – 8	Germany
Russia	9 – 9	Yugoslavia
Spain	8 – 7	Netherlands

Monday 22 July 1996


Hungary	10 – 8	Netherlands
Russia	10 – 8	Germany
Yugoslavia	9 – 7	Spain

Tuesday 23 July 1996


Hungary	8 – 7	Spain
Russia	10 – 5	Netherlands
Yugoslavia	9 – 8	Germany

Wednesday 24 July 1996


Germany	9 – 8	Netherlands
Hungary	12 – 8	Yugoslavia
Spain	8 – 6	Russia

Group B edit

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Italy	5	5	0	0	48	38	+10	10
2	United States	5	4	0	1	45	37	+8	8
3	Croatia	5	3	0	2	51	39	+12	6
4	Greece	5	2	0	3	37	38	−1	4
5	Romania	5	0	1	4	31	45	−14	1
6	Ukraine	5	0	1	4	33	48	−15	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Saturday 20 July 1996


Croatia	8 – 5	Greece
Italy	10 – 7	United States
Romania	6 – 6	Ukraine

Sunday 21 July 1996


Croatia	11 – 6	Romania
Italy	8 – 6	Ukraine
United States	9 – 7	Greece

Monday 22 July 1996


Greece	8 – 5	Romania
Italy	10 – 8	Croatia
United States	9 – 7	Ukraine

Tuesday 23 July 1996


Croatia	16 – 8	Ukraine
Italy	10 – 8	Greece
United States	10 – 5	Romania

Wednesday 24 July 1996


Greece	9 – 6	Ukraine
Italy	10 – 9	Romania
United States	10 – 8	Croatia

Classification round edit

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
9.	Germany	6	3	3	0	0	29	16	+13
10.	Netherlands	3	3	1	1	1	25	26	–1
11.	Romania	2	3	1	0	2	25	28	–3
12.	Ukraine	1	3	0	1	2	21	30	–9

Friday 26 July 1996


Germany	10 – 4	Ukraine
Netherlands	10 – 8	Romania

Saturday 27 July 1996


Germany	9 – 6	Netherlands
Romania	11 – 8	Ukraine

Sunday 28 July 1996


Netherlands	9 – 9	Ukraine
Germany	10 – 6	Romania

Final round edit

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final



Hungary	12

Greece	8
		Hungary	6

		Spain	7
Spain	5

United States	4
				Spain	7

				Croatia	5
Yugoslavia	6

Croatia	8
		Croatia	7

		Italy	6	Third place
Russia	9

Italy	11
				Hungary	18

				Italy	20

Quarterfinals edit

Friday 26 July 1996


Hungary	12 – 8	Greece
Yugoslavia	6 – 8	Croatia
Spain	5 – 4	United States
Russia	9 – 11	Italy

Semifinals edit

Saturday 27 July 1996 — 5th/8th place


Greece	7 – 6	United States
Yugoslavia	15 – 16	Russia

Saturday 27 July 1996 — 1st/4th place


Croatia	7 – 6	Italy
Hungary	6 – 7	Spain

Finals edit

Sunday 28 July 1996 — 7th place


United States	12 – 8	Yugoslavia

Sunday 28 July 1996 — 5th place


Greece	8 – 10	Russia

Sunday 28 July 1996 — Bronze medal match


Hungary	18 – 20	Italy

Sunday 28 July 1996 — Gold medal match


Spain	7 – 5	Croatia

Ranking and statistics edit

Final ranking edit

RANK^[1]	TEAM
	Spain
	Croatia
	Italy
4.	Hungary
5.	Russia
6.	Greece
7.	United States
8.	Yugoslavia
9.	Germany
10.	Netherlands
11.	Romania
12.	Ukraine

1996 Men's Olympic champions
Spain First title

Multi-time Olympians edit

Five-time Olympian(s): 1 player

Spain: Manuel Estiarte^[3]

Four-time Olympian(s): 3 players

Medallists edit

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's tournament	Spain (ESP)^[1] Josep María Abarca Ángel Andreo Daniel Ballart Pedro Francisco García Salvador Gómez Manuel Estiarte Iván Moro Miguel Ángel Oca Jorge Payá Sergi Pedrerol Jesús Rollán Jordi Sans Carles Sans Head Coach: Joan Jané	Croatia (CRO) Maro Balić Perica Bukić Damir Glavan Igor Hinić Vjekoslav Kobešćak Joško Kreković Ognjen Kržić Dubravko Šimenc Siniša Školneković Ratko Štritof Renato Vrbičić Tino Vegar Zdeslav Vrdoljak Head Coach: Bruno Silić	Italy (ITA) Alberto Angelini Francesco Attolico Fabio Bencivenga Alessandro Bovo Alessandro Calcaterra Roberto Calcaterra Marco Gerini Alberto Ghibellini Luca Giustolisi Amedeo Pomilio Francesco Postiglione Carlo Silipo Leonardo Sottani Head Coach: Ratko Rudić

References edit

^ ^a ^b ^c "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
^ "Water Polo at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
^ "Manuel Estiarte". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
^ "George Mavrotas". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
^ "Anastasios Papanastasiou". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
^ "Jordi Sans". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.

Sources edit

PDF documents in the LA84 Foundation Digital Library:
- Official Report of the 1996 Olympic Games, v.3 (download, archive) (pp. 56–73)
Water polo on the Olympedia website
- Water polo at the 1996 Summer Olympics (men's tournament)
Water polo on the Sports Reference website
- Water polo at the 1996 Summer Games (men's tournament) (archived)