Water polo at the 2000 Summer Olympics

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.

Women matches were held in Ryde Leisure Aquatic Centre and men and women finals were held in Sydney International Aquatic Centre.

Men's medallists

• For details see Men's Competition

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Hungary Attila Vári Zoltán Szécsi Bulcsú Székely Zsolt Varga Tamás Märcz Tamás Molnár Barnabás Steinmetz Tamás Kásás Gergely Kiss Zoltán Kósz Tibor Benedek Péter Biros Rajmund Fodor Head Coach: Dénes Kemény	Russia Irek Zinnourov Dmitri Stratan Revaz Tchomakhidze Marat Zakirov Nikolay Kozlov Nikolai Maximov Andrei Reketchinski Serguei Garbouzov Dmitry Gorshkov Yuri Yatsev Roman Balachov Dmitri Douquine Alexandre Erychov Head Coach: Alexander Kabanov	Yugoslavia Predrag Zimonjić Jugoslav Vasović Vladimir Vujasinović Nenad Vukanić Aleksandar Šoštar Petar Trbojević Veljko Uskoković Nikola Kuljača Aleksandar Šapić Dejan Savić Aleksandar Ćirić Danilo Ikodinović Viktor Jelenić Head Coach: Nenad Manojlović

Participants: Russia, Italy, Spain, Australia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Fmr Yugoslavia, Croatia, Hungary, USA, Netherlands and Greece.

Final rankings

Rank Team  Hungary  Russia  Yugoslavia 4.  Spain 5.  Italy 6.  United States 7.  Croatia 8.  Australia 9.  Kazakhstan 10.  Greece 11.  Netherlands 12.  Slovakia

Women's medallists

• For details see Women's Competition

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Australia Taryn Woods Debbie Watson Liz Weekes Danielle Woodhouse Bronwyn Mayer Gail Miller Melissa Mills Simone Hankin Yvette Higgins Kate Hooper Naomi Castle Joanne Fox Bridgette Gusterson Head Coach: István Görgényi	United States Brenda Villa Kathy Sheehy Coralie Simmons Julie Swail Courtney Johnson Maureen O'Toole Nicolle Payne Heather Petri Ericka Lorenz Heather Moody Bernice Orwig Robin Beauregard Ellen Estes Head Coach: Guy Baker	Russia Ekaterina Vassilieva Elena Smurova Elena Tokoun Irina Tolkounova Ioulia Petrova Tatiana Petrova Galina Rytova Maria Koroleva Natalia Koutouzova Svetlana Kouzina Marina Akobia Ekaterina Anikeeva Sofia Konoukh Head Coach: —

Final rankings

Rank Team  Australia  United States  Russia 4.  Netherlands 5.  Canada 6.  Kazakhstan

References

• Official Olympic Report