The women's water polo tournament at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested between August 16 and August 26 at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. Eight teams qualified for the Games, with Italy defeating the host nation Greece for the gold medal. The United States won the bronze medal.
Format The eight qualifying teams were split into two groups of four for the preliminary round, which was played in a round-robin format. The top teams in each group advanced directly to the semi-finals, while second and third place teams advanced to the quarter-finals. Classification matches were also played to determine the final ranking for all teams.
Background and qualification The women's water polo tournament at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the second time that the tournament was held at the Olympic Games with the previous tournament being held in 2000.
Fifteen teams competed in qualifying for the seven spots. Despite it originally being the winner per continent, the format would only see two continental champions with the United States and Kazakhstan qualifying from their continent. The remaining four spots (Australia got an bye from being the Oceania champions) was then held at the qualifier which was held in Imperia, Italy. The top three teams from the event qualified through to the Olympics Games (Hungary, Italy and Russia) while Canada also got through on the basis of being the replacement for the African team.
Event Dates Hosts Quota Qualifier(s) Host nation 1 2003 Pan American Games 3–10 August 2003 Dominican Republic 1 Asian Qualification Tournament 22–24 September 2003 Almaty 1 2004 Women's Olympic Water Polo Qualifying Tournament 23–29 February 2004 Imperia 4 Oceanian Qualification Tournament1
Squads
Preliminary round All times are EEST (UTC+3)
Group A
Group B
Final round Bracket
7th place match All times are EEST (UTC+3)
Quarterfinals All times are EEST (UTC+3)
5th place match All times are EEST (UTC+3)
Semifinals All times are EEST (UTC+3)
Bronze medal match All times are EEST (UTC+3)
Gold medal match All times are EEST (UTC+3)
Ranking and statistics
Final ranking
Rank Team45678
Top goalscorers +RankNameGoalsShots 1 Tania Di Mario 14 27 522 Ekaterina Salimova 10 19 53 Mercedes Stieber 10 22 454 Sofia Konukh 9 25 36 Martina Miceli 9 25 36 Kyriaki Liosi 9 27 33
Medallist GoldSilverBronzeFrancesca ContiMartina MiceliCarmela AllucciSilvia BosurgiElena GigliManuela ZanchiTania Di MarioCinzia RagusaGiusi MalatoAlexandra AraujoMaddalena MusumeciMelania GregoNoémi TóthHead Coach: Pierluigi FormiconiGeorgia EllinakiDimitra AsilianAntiopi MelidoniAngeliki KarapatakiKyriaki LiosiStavroula KozompoliAikaterini OikonomopoulouAntigoni RoumpesiEvangelia MoraitidouEftychia KaragianniGeorgia LaraAntonia MoraitiAnthoula MylonakiHead Coach: Kyriakos IosifidisJacqueline FrankHeather PetriEricka LorenzBrenda VillaEllen EstesNatalie GoldaMargaret DingeldeinKelly RulonHeather MoodyRobin BeauregardAmber StachowskiNicolle PayneThalia MunroHead Coach: Guy Baker
Awards The women's all-star team was announced on 29 August 2004.
Most Valuable Player Tania Di Mario (14 goals, 7 sprints won)
Media All-Star Team Goalkeeper Georgia Ellinaki (40 saves) Field players Tania Di Mario (14 goals, 7 sprints won) Rita Drávucz (7 goals, 6 sprints won) Kyriaki Liosi (9 goals, 21 sprints won) Martina Miceli (9 goals) Evangelia Moraitidou (7 goals) Brenda Villa (7 goals)
References
Sources PDF documents in the LA84 Foundation Digital Library: Official Results Book – 2004 Olympic Games – Water Polo (download, archive) Water polo on the Olympedia website Water polo at the 2004 Summer Olympics (women's tournament) Water polo on the Sports Reference website Water polo at the 2004 Summer Games (women's tournament) (archived)