Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Ten nations competed in water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.

Medallists Antal BolváriOttó BorosDezső GyarmatiIstván HevesiLászló JeneyTivadar KanizsaGyörgy KárpátiKálmán MarkovitsMiklos MartinMihály MayerIstván SzivósErvin Zádor Ivo CipciTomislav FranjkovićVladimir IvkovićZdravko JežićHrvoje KačićZdravko-Ćiro KovačićLovro RadonjićMarijan Žužej Viktor AgeevPyotr BreusBoris GoykhmanNodar GvakhariyaVyacheslav KurennoyBoris MarkarovP'et're MshveniyeradzeValentin ProkopovMikhail RyzhakYury Shlyapin

Participating nations For the team rosters see: Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads.

Results Preliminary round

The preliminary round consisted of a round-robin tournament held in three groups. Each team played the other teams in its group once.

Group A

Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points 3 3 0 0 15 5 6 3 2 1 0 9 6 4 3 1 2 0 9 9 2 3 0 3 0 3 16 0

28 November 14:00 - Romania def. Australia, 4-2 19:30 - Yugoslavia def. Soviet Union, 3-2

29 November 21:15 - Soviet Union def. Romania, 4-3 22:15 - Yugoslavia def. Australia, 9-1

30 November 10:30 - Yugoslavia def. Romania, 3-2 16:00 - Soviet Union def. Australia, 3-0

Group B

Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points 2 2 0 0 12 3 4 2 1 1 0 7 9 2 2 0 2 0 4 11 0

28 November 20:30 - United States def. Great Britain, 5-3

29 November 15:45 - Hungary def. Great Britain, 6-1

30 November 11:30 - Hungary def. United States, 6-2

Group C

Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points 2 2 0 0 11 3 4 2 1 1 0 7 5 2 2 0 2 0 2 12 0

28 November 15:00 - Germany def. Singapore, 5-1

29 November 16:45 - Italy def. Singapore, 7-1

30 November 22:10 - Italy def. Germany, 4-2

Final round

The top two teams in each preliminary group advanced to the championship, in which they played each of the four other championship teams they had not previously faced. The results of the preliminary round game against the team from their group carried over into the final round.

The teams that did not advance to the championship played in a consolation tournament.

Championship

The most famous water polo match in history was the semi-finals round match between Hungary and the Soviet Union. As the athletes left for the games, the Hungarian Revolution started and was crushed by the Soviet army. Many of the Hungarian athletes vowed never to return home and felt their only means of fighting back was in the pool.

With only two games left for each team, the Hungarians were leading in the standings, 1 point ahead of Yugoslavia and 2 ahead of the Soviets. A Soviet victory would have put them alongside the Hungarians in the standings, with the final match pairings favoring the Soviets, who would face the last-place Germans while Hungary had to compete with Yugoslavia. A Hungarian victory would ensure at least a silver medal for the team, with a draw or a win against Yugoslavia in the last game meaning gold.

The Hungary-Soviet Union confrontation was extremely bloody and violent, riddled with penalties, and the pool was later depicted as turning red from the blood spilt. The Hungarians led the Soviets 4-0 before the game was called off in the final minute to prevent angry spectators, many of them Hungarian immigrants to Australia, reacting to Valentin Prokopov punching Ervin Zádor's eye open.Riot Narrowly Avoided at Olympic Pool, The Canberra Times, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.1Olympic Games Peace Shattered: Fists Fly in Pool Fracas, The Argus, (Friday, 7 December 1956), pp.1, 3.Hungarian Injured in Polo, The Age, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.1.Player Punched in Rough Water Polo, The Age, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.1.That evening, a similar anti-Russian protest occurred during a fencing match between Hungarian Pál Kovács and Russian Lev Kuznetsov at the St Kilda Town Hall: Mr. Brundage hears crowd hoot Russian, The Argus, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.14; Tireless Hungarian Takes Sabre Title: Appeal to Crowd, The Age, Friday, 7 December 1956), p.12. The Hungarians went on to win the gold medal by defeating Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final. Half of the Hungarian Olympic delegation defected after the Games.Nine Hungarians Miss First Plane for Home, The Canberra Times, (Saturday, 8 December 1956), p.3.Hungarians Stay Behind, The Age, (Monday, 10 December 1956), p.1.46 Hungarians Refuse to go Home, and . . . Security Men Guard "Village", The Argus, (Monday, 10 December 1956), p.3.Security Guard for Hungarian Athletes, The Canberra Times, (Tuesday, 11 December 1956), p.3.

Rank Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points 1 5 5 0 0 20 3 10 2 5 3 1 1 13 8 7 3 5 3 2 0 14 14 6 4 5 2 3 0 10 13 4 5 5 1 4 0 10 20 2 6 5 0 4 1 11 20 1

1 December 14:40 - Soviet Union def. Italy, 3-2 22:40 - Yugoslavia def. United States, 5-1

3 December 16:50 - United States def. Germany, 4-3 21:30 - Hungary def. Italy, 4-0

4 December 15:40 - Yugoslavia tied Germany, 2-2 21:00 - Italy def. United States, 3-2

5 December 16:40 - Soviet Union def. United States, 3-1 22:20 - Hungary def. Germany, 4-0

6 December 15:25 - Hungary def. Soviet Union, 4-0 21:55 - Yugoslavia def. Italy, 2-1

7 December 14:00 - Soviet Union def. Germany, 6-4 21:20 - Hungary def. Yugoslavia, 2-1

Consolation

Rank Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points 7 3 3 0 0 21 9 6 8 3 2 1 0 21 8 4 9 3 1 2 0 7 11 2 10 3 0 3 0 8 29 0

Great Britain def. Singapore, 11-5 Great Britain def. Australia, 5-2 Romania def. Singapore, 15-1 Great Britain def. Romania, 5-2 Australia def. Singapore, 3-2 Romania def. Australia, 4-2

Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics

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