Water polo at the 1996 Summer Olympics

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

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 (1996-07-20) – 28 July 1996 (1996-07-28)
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 →

Qualification

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
				Croatia
Intercontinental qualification	10-18 February 1996	Berlin	6	Yugoslavia  Greece  Netherlands  Ukraine  Germany  Romania
Total			12

Teams

GROUP A  Germany  Hungary  Netherlands  Russia  Spain  Yugoslavia

GROUP B  Croatia  Greece  Italy  Romania  Ukraine  United States

Squads

Main article: Water polo at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hungary	5	5	0	0	47	38	+9	10
2	FR 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]}

20 July 1996

Hungary

8–7

Russia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

20 July 1996

Spain

9–3

Germany

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

20 July 1996

FR Yugoslavia

11–8

Netherlands

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

21 July 1996

Hungary

9–8

Germany

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

21 July 1996

Russia

9–9

FR Yugoslavia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

21 July 1996

Spain

8–7

Netherlands

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

22 July 1996

Hungary

10–8

Netherlands

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

22 July 1996

Russia

10–8

Germany

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

22 July 1996

FR Yugoslavia

9–7

Spain

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

23 July 1996

Hungary

8–7

Spain

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

23 July 1996

Russia

10–5

Netherlands

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

23 July 1996

FR Yugoslavia

9–8

Germany

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

24 July 1996

Germany

9–8

Netherlands

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

24 July 1996

Hungary

12–8

FR Yugoslavia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

24 July 1996

Spain

8–6

Russia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Group B

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]}

20 July 1996

Croatia

8–5

Greece

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

20 July 1996

Italy

10–7

United States

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

20 July 1996

Romania

6–6

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

21 July 1996

Croatia

11–6

Romania

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

21 July 1996

Italy

8–6

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

21 July 1996

United States

9–7

Greece

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

22 July 1996

Greece

8–5

Romania

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

22 July 1996

Italy

10–8

Croatia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

22 July 1996

United States

9–7

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

23 July 1996

Croatia

16–8

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

23 July 1996

Italy

10–8

Greece

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

23 July 1996

United States

10–5

Romania

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

24 July 1996

Greece

9–6

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

24 July 1996

Italy

10–9

Romania

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

24 July 1996

United States

10–8

Croatia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Classification round

	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

26 July 1996

Germany

10–4

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

26 July 1996

Netherlands

10–8

Romania

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

27 July 1996

Germany

9–6

Netherlands

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

27 July 1996

Romania

11–8

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

---

28 July 1996

Netherlands

9–9

Ukraine

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

28 July 1996

Germany

10–6

Romania

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Final round

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Hungary	12
	Greece	8
					Hungary	6
					Spain	7
	Spain	5
	United States	4
									Spain	7
									Croatia	5
	FR Yugoslavia	6
	Croatia	8
					Croatia	7
					Italy	6			Third place
	Russia	9
	Italy	11
									Hungary	18
									Italy	20

Quarterfinals

26 July 1996

Hungary

12–8

Greece

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

26 July 1996

FR Yugoslavia

6–8

Croatia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

26 July 1996

Spain

5–4

United States

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

26 July 1996

Russia

9–11

Italy

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Semifinals

5th/8th place

27 July 1996

Greece

7–6

United States

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

27 July 1996

FR Yugoslavia

15–16

Russia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

1st/4th place

27 July 1996

Croatia

7–6

Italy

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

27 July 1996

Hungary

6–7

Spain

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Finals

7th place match

28 July 1996

United States

12–8

FR Yugoslavia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

5th place match

28 July 1996

Greece

8–10

Russia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Bronze medal match

28 July 1996

Hungary

18–20

Italy

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Gold medal match

28 July 1996

Spain

7–5

Croatia

Georgia Tech Aquatic Center

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

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

1996 Men's Olympic champions  Spain First title

Multi-time Olympians

See also: List of players who have appeared in multiple men's Olympic water polo tournaments

Five-time Olympian(s): 1 player

•  Spain: Manuel Estiarte^[3]

Four-time Olympian(s): 3 players

•  Greece: George Mavrotas,^[4] Anastasios Papanastasiou^[5]
•  Spain: Jordi Sans^[6]

Medallists

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

See also

• 1994 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship
• 1998 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship

References

1. "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.
2. "Water Polo at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
3. "Manuel Estiarte". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
4. "George Mavrotas". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
5. "Anastasios Papanastasiou". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
6. "Jordi Sans". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 24 January 2021.

Sources

• 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)

External links

• "Official Olympic Report". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
• Results^{[dead link]}