The water polo competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia saw Hungary’s return to the gold medal platform and the introduction of the women’s tournament. The Australian women had lobbied the IOC hard for the inclusion of women’s water polo in the Olympics, including showing up at the airport dressed only in their swimsuits during one pre-Olympic visit by members of the IOC.
Six nations competed in the women’s tournament with home team Australia winning the gold medal over the United States. Twelve nations competed in the men’s tournament and played a total of 48 matches. Spain was unable to follow up their 1996 gold medal performance with a medal. Hungary defeated Russia for the gold medal. The matches were held at Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre and the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre.
Qualification Source: Men EventsDatesHostsQuotasQualified TeamsHost country24 September 1993 Monte Carlo11999 World Cup28 September - 3 October 1999 Sydney31999 Pan American Games23-30 July 1999 Winnipeg11999 European Championship2-11 September 1999 Firenze12000 Asian Championship28 March - 2 April 2000 Busan1Men's Olympic Water Polo Qualifying Tournament6-14 May 2000 Hannover5Total12
Women EventsDatesHostsQuotasQualified TeamsHost country24 September 1993 Monte Carlo11999 World CupEurope24-29 May 1999 Winnipeg1Americas1Women's Olympic Water Polo Qualifying TournamentWorld22-30 April 2000 Palermo2Asia/Africa/Oceania1Total6
Medal summary
Medal table
Medalists MenAttila VáriZoltán SzécsiBulcsú SzékelyZsolt VargaTamás MärczTamás MolnárBarnabás SteinmetzTamás KásásGergely KissZoltán KószTibor BenedekPéter BirosRajmund FodorIrek ZinnourovDmitri StratanRevaz ChomakhidzeMarat ZakirovNikolay KozlovNikolai MaximovAndrei RekechinskiSergey GarbuzovDmitry GorshkovYuri YatsevRoman BalashovDmitri DuginAleksandr YeryshovPredrag ZimonjićJugoslav VasovićVladimir VujasinovićNenad VukanićAleksandar ŠoštarPetar TrbojevićVeljko UskokovićNikola KuljačaAleksandar ŠapićDejan SavićAleksandar ĆirićDanilo IkodinovićViktor JelenićWomenTaryn WoodsDebbie WatsonLiz WeekesDanielle WoodhouseBronwyn MayerGail MillerMelissa MillsSimone HankinYvette HigginsKate HooperNaomi CastleJoanne FoxBridgette GustersonBrenda VillaKathy SheehyCoralie SimmonsJulie SwailCourtney JohnsonMaureen O'TooleNicolle PayneHeather PetriEricka LorenzHeather MoodyBernice OrwigRobin BeauregardEllen EstesEkaterina VassilievaElena SmurovaElena TokounIrina TolkounovaIoulia PetrovaTatiana PetrovaGalina RytovaMaria KorolevaNatalia KoutouzovaSvetlana KouzinaMarina AkobiaEkaterina AnikeevaSofia Konoukh
References
Sources PDF documents in the LA84 Foundation Digital Library: Official Results Book – 2000 Olympic Games – Water Polo (download, archive) Water polo on the Olympedia website Water polo at the 2000 Summer Olympics (men's tournament, women's tournament) Water polo on the Sports Reference website Water polo at the 2000 Summer Games (men's tournament, women's tournament) (archived)
External links Official Olympic Report