Water polo began as an Olympic sport in 1900, but didn’t feature women’s water polo until 2000. The US has medaled in women’s water polo each year since it was started including silvers in Beijing and Sydney. The US Men have won 9 medals, but three of those were in 1904 when only US teams competed. The Us won silver in Beijing, their first medal since 1988, and haven’t won gold since 1904.
The Team:
The US teams consist of 13 men and 13 women. 16 of the athletes are returning from Beijing, nine are returning from Athens and three are still with the team from Sydney.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
USA Water Polo
Men:
Merrill Moses*
Peter Varellas*
Peter Hudnut*
Jeff Powers**
Adam Wright**
Shea Buckner
Layne Beaubien**
Tony Azevedo***
Ryan Bailey***
Timothy Hutten*
Jesse A. Smith**
John Mann
Chay Lapin
Women:
Elizabeth Armstrong*
Heather Petri***
Melissa Seidemann
Brenda Villa**
Lauren Wenger*
Maggie Steffens
Courtney Mathewson
Jessica Steffens*
Elsie Windes*
Kelly Rulon&
Annika Dries
Kami Craig*
Tumuaialii Anae
* – Was on team in Beijing
& – Was on team in Athens
** – Was on team in Beijing and Athens
*** – Was on team in Beijing, Athens, and Sydney
Schedule:
The water polo tournament for both genders will start with a group stage of round robin play. The men’s competition features two groups of six, the women’s competition has two groups of four. In the men’s tournament the top four in each group move onto the quarterfinals, while in the women’s tournament all eight will go into the quarterfinals.
All times ET
Sunday July 29th
2:40 PM – USA Men’s Water Polo vs. Montenegro – Group Stage
Monday July 30th
2:40 PM – USA Women’s Water Polo vs. Hungary – Group Stage
Tuesday July 31st
2:40 PM – USA Men’s Water Polo vs. Romania – Group Stage
Wednesday August 1st
1:20 PM – USA Women’s Water Polo vs. Spain – Group Stage
Thursday August 2nd
1:20 PM – USA Men’s Water Polo vs. Great Britain – Group Stage
Friday August 3rd
2:40 PM – USA Women’s Water Polo vs. China – Group Stage
Saturday August 4th
2:40 PM – USA Men’s Water Polo vs. Serbia – Group Stage
Sunday August 5th
9:50 AM – USA Women’s Water Polo – Quarterfinals
Monday August 6th
10:30 AM – USA Men’s Water Polo vs. Hungary – Group Stage
Tuesday August 7th
9:10 AM – USA Women’s Water Polo – Semifinals
Wednesday August 8th
9:30 AM – USA Men’s Water Polo – Quarterfinals
Thursday August 9th
1:40 PM – USA Women’s Water Polo – Medal Round
Friday August 10th
9:20 AM – USA Men’s Water Polo – Semifinals
Sunday August 12th
9:30 AM – USA Men’s Water Polo – Medal Round
Past Results:
In Beijing the US men went 4-1 in the group stage to get a bye into the top spot in the semifinals. They beat Serbia in the semifinals but were knocked off by Hungary in the final to win the silver medal. The US women went 2-1 to win their group and advance to the semifinals where they beat Australia. In the final they had clawed back from a 4-2 deficit to tie the Netherlands at 8, but a late goal gave the Dutch the gold medal.
In Athens the US men struggled to a 2-3 finish in the group stage and finished 7th. The women fared better and won their group before losing to Italy in the semifinals and winning the bronze against Australia in the final.
In Sydney the men qualified to the quarterfinals by finishing 4th in their group but a loss to Russia sent the US into the classification tournament where they finished 6th. The US women finished 2nd in their group and reached the final against Australia where they lost 4-3.
The US men finished 4th at the latest Water Polo World League tournament and 6th at the 2011 World Aquatic Championship. The US women finished 6th at the World Aquatic Championship as well, but they did win the 2010 Water Polo World Cup.
