The men's tournament of water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics at London, Great Britain, began on 29 July and lasted until 12 August 2012. All games were held at the Water Polo Arena.
Teams from twelve nations competed in the tournament and were seeded into two groups for the preliminary round. A total of 42 games were played, 30 of them in the preliminary round.
Format The format of water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics: Twelve teams were divided into two preliminary groups, composed of six teams each, and played a single round robin in each group. The top 4 teams from each group played against each other in a cross-group format in the Quarterfinals. Winners from the Quarterfinal progressed to the Semifinals and played against another winner from the Quarterfinal round. Losers went on to play classification games. Winners of the Semifinals contested the gold medal game and the losers the bronze medal game.
Preliminary round
Group A
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).
Group B
Medal round Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Bronze medal match
Gold medal match
Classification Bracket
5th–8th place semi-finals
7th–8th place match
5th–6th place match
Final ranking
Rank Team4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Medalists GoldSilverBronze Josip Pavić (GK)Damir BurićMiho BoškovićNikša DobudMaro Joković (LH)Ivan BuljubašićPetar MuslimAndro BušljeSandro SuknoSamir Barać (C)Igor HinićPaulo ObradovićFrano Vićan (GK)Head coach: Ratko RudićStefano Tempesti (C, GK)Amaurys PérezNiccolò GittoPietro FiglioliAlex GiorgettiMaurizio FelugoMassimo GiacoppoValentino Gallo (LH)Christian PresciuttiDeni FiorentiniMatteo AicardiDanijel PremušGiacomo Pastorino (GK)Head coach: Alessandro Campagna Slobodan Soro (GK)Aleksa ŠaponjićŽivko GocićVanja Udovičić (C)Dušan Mandić (LH)Duško PijetlovićSlobodan NikićMilan AleksićNikola RađenFilip Filipović (LH)Andrija PrlainovićStefan MitrovićGojko Pijetlović (GK)Head coach: Dejan Udovičić
Statistics
Multi-time Olympians
Five-time Olympian(s): 3 players : Igor Hinić : Georgios Afroudakis : Tamás Kásás
Four-time Olympian(s): 14 players : Thomas Whalan, Gavin Woods : Samir Barać, Frano Vićan (GK) : Theodoros Chatzitheodorou, Nikolaos Deligiannis (GK) : Péter Biros, Gergely Kiss, Zoltán Szécsi (GK) : Stefano Tempesti (GK) : Nikolay Maksimov (GK) : Iván Pérez : Tony Azevedo, Ryan Bailey
Multiple medalists
Three-time Olympic medalist(s): 5 players : Péter Biros, Tamás Kásás, Gergely Kiss, Zoltán Szécsi (GK) : Vanja Udovičić
Leading goalscorers Rank Player Team Goals Matchesplayed Goalsper match Shots % 1 Andrija Prlainović 22 8 2.750 40 55.0% 2 Aleksandar Ivović 19 8 2.375 43 44.2% 3 Filip Filipović 18 8 2.250 42 42.9% Norbert Madaras 8 2.250 37 48.6% 5 Péter Biros 16 8 2.000 38 42.1% Felipe Perrone 8 2.000 33 48.5% 7 Miho Bošković 15 8 1.875 33 45.5% Vanja Udovičić 8 1.875 41 36.6% 9 Albert Español 14 8 1.750 30 46.7% Norbert Hosnyánszky 8 1.750 23 60.9% Marc Minguell 8 1.750 31 45.2% Sandro Sukno 8 1.750 30 46.7% Boris Zloković 8 1.750 30 46.7% Source: Official Results Book (page 466)
Leading goalkeepers Rank Goalkeeper Team Saves Matchesplayed Savesper match Shots % 1 Stefano Tempesti 87 8 10.875 147 59.2% 2 Josip Pavić 85 8 10.625 121 70.2% 3 Slobodan Soro 75 8 9.375 135 55.6% 4 Merrill Moses 72 8 9.000 135 53.3% 5 Miloš Šćepanović 59 8 7.375 122 48.4% 6 Iñaki Aguilar 52 8 6.500 98 53.1% 7 Joel Dennerley 51 8 6.375 104 49.0% 8 Nikolay Maksimov 50 5 10.000 103 48.5% 9 Dragoș Stoenescu 48 5 9.600 97 49.5% 10 Nikolaos Deligiannis 45 5 9.000 83 54.2% Source: Official Results Book (page 462)
Leading sprinters Rank Sprinter Team Sprintswon Matchesplayed Sprints wonper match Sprintscontested % 1 Pietro Figlioli 19 8 2.375 21 90.5% Rhys Howden 8 2.375 24 79.2% 3 Albert Español 15 8 1.875 25 60.0% 4 Sandro Sukno 11 8 1.375 16 68.8% 5 Deni Fiorentini 10 8 1.250 10 100% Peter Varellas 8 1.250 15 66.7% 7 Vjekoslav Pasković 8 8 1.000 17 47.1% 8 Maro Joković 7 8 0.875 13 53.8% Tamás Kásás 8 0.875 9 77.8% Aleksa Šaponjić 8 0.875 11 63.6% Source: Official Results Book (page 465)
Awards The men's all-star team was announced on 12 August 2012.
Most Valuable Player Josip Pavić (85 saves)
Media All-Star Team Goalkeeper Josip Pavić (85 saves) Field players Nikša Dobud (centre forward, 12 goals) Maurizio Felugo (12 goals) Filip Filipović (left-handed, 18 goals, 2 sprints won) Aleksandar Ivović (centre back, 19 goals) Felipe Perrone (16 goals) Andrija Prlainović (22 goals)
See also Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament
References
Sources PDF documents on the FINA website: Official Results Book – 2012 Olympic Games – Diving, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo (archive) (pp. 284–507) Water polo on the Olympedia website Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics (men's tournament) Water polo on the Sports Reference website Water polo at the 2012 Summer Games (men's tournament) (archived)