Water polo
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad

Tournament details
Host country	United States
City	Atlanta
Venue(s)	Georgia Tech Aquatic Center
Dates	20 July 1996 (1996-07-20) – 28 July 1996 (1996-07-28)
Event	1 (men's)
Teams	12 (from 3 confederations)
Competitors	153
Final positions
Champions	Spain (1st title)
Runners-up	Croatia
Third place	Italy
Fourth place	Hungary
Tournament statistics
Matches	48
Multiple appearances	5-time Olympian(s): 1 4-time Olympian(s): 3
Top scorer(s)	Tibor Benedek (19 goals)
Most saves	Arie van de Bunt (81 saves)
← 1992 2000 →

The water polo tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held from 20 to 28 July 1996, in Atlanta, United States. ^{[1] [2]}

Qualification

Qualification	Date	Host	Berths	Qualified
Host nation	18 September 1990	Tokyo	1	United States
1995 World Cup	12-17 September 1995	Atlanta	3	Hungary
				Italy
				Russia
1994 World Championships	2-10 September 1994	Rome	2	Spain
				Croatia
Intercontinental qualification	10-18 February 1996	Berlin	6	Yugoslavia   Greece   Netherlands   Ukraine   Germany   Romania
Total			12

Teams

Squads

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hungary	5	5	0	0	47	38	+9	10
2	Yugoslavia	5	3	1	1	46	44	+2	7
3	Spain	5	3	0	2	39	33	+6	6
4	Russia	5	2	1	2	42	38	+4	5
5	Germany	5	1	0	4	36	45	−9	2
6	Netherlands	5	0	0	5	36	48	−12	0

• Saturday 20 July 1996

Hungary	8 – 7	Russia
Spain	9 – 3	Germany
Yugoslavia	11 – 8	Netherlands

• Sunday 21 July 1996

Hungary	9 – 8	Germany
Russia	9 – 9	Yugoslavia
Spain	8 – 7	Netherlands

• Monday 22 July 1996

Hungary	10 – 8	Netherlands
Russia	10 – 8	Germany
Yugoslavia	9 – 7	Spain

• Tuesday 23 July 1996

Hungary	8 – 7	Spain
Russia	10 – 5	Netherlands
Yugoslavia	9 – 8	Germany

• Wednesday 24 July 1996

Germany	9 – 8	Netherlands
Hungary	12 – 8	Yugoslavia
Spain	8 – 6	Russia

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Italy	5	5	0	0	48	38	+10	10
2	United States	5	4	0	1	45	37	+8	8
3	Croatia	5	3	0	2	51	39	+12	6
4	Greece	5	2	0	3	37	38	−1	4
5	Romania	5	0	1	4	31	45	−14	1
6	Ukraine	5	0	1	4	33	48	−15	1

• Saturday 20 July 1996

Croatia	8 – 5	Greece
Italy	10 – 7	United States
Romania	6 – 6	Ukraine

• Sunday 21 July 1996

Croatia	11 – 6	Romania
Italy	8 – 6	Ukraine
United States	9 – 7	Greece

• Monday 22 July 1996

Greece	8 – 5	Romania
Italy	10 – 8	Croatia
United States	9 – 7	Ukraine

• Tuesday 23 July 1996

Croatia	16 – 8	Ukraine
Italy	10 – 8	Greece
United States	10 – 5	Romania

• Wednesday 24 July 1996

Greece	9 – 6	Ukraine
Italy	10 – 9	Romania
United States	10 – 8	Croatia

Classification round

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
9.	Germany	6	3	3	0	0	29	16	+13
10.	Netherlands	3	3	1	1	1	25	26	–1
11.	Romania	2	3	1	0	2	25	28	–3
12.	Ukraine	1	3	0	1	2	21	30	–9

• Friday 26 July 1996

Germany	10 – 4	Ukraine
Netherlands	10 – 8	Romania

• Saturday 27 July 1996

Germany	9 – 6	Netherlands
Romania	11 – 8	Ukraine

• Sunday 28 July 1996

Netherlands	9 – 9	Ukraine
Germany	10 – 6	Romania

Final round

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Hungary	12
	Greece	8
					Hungary	6
					Spain	7
	Spain	5
	United States	4
									Spain	7
									Croatia	5
	Yugoslavia	6
	Croatia	8
					Croatia	7
					Italy	6			Third place
	Russia	9
	Italy	11
									Hungary	18
									Italy	20

Quarterfinals

• Friday 26 July 1996

Hungary	12 – 8	Greece
Yugoslavia	6 – 8	Croatia
Spain	5 – 4	United States
Russia	9 – 11	Italy

Semifinals

• Saturday 27 July 1996 — 5th/8th place

Greece	7 – 6	United States
Yugoslavia	15 – 16	Russia

• Saturday 27 July 1996 — 1st/4th place

Croatia	7 – 6	Italy
Hungary	6 – 7	Spain

Finals

• Sunday 28 July 1996 — 7th place

United States	12 – 8	Yugoslavia

• Sunday 28 July 1996 — 5th place

Greece	8 – 10	Russia

• Sunday 28 July 1996 — Bronze medal match

Hungary	18 – 20	Italy

• Sunday 28 July 1996 — Gold medal match

Spain	7 – 5	Croatia

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Multi-time Olympians

Five-time Olympian(s): 1 player

•   Spain: Manuel Estiarte ^[3]

Four-time Olympian(s): 3 players

•   Greece: George Mavrotas, ^[4] Anastasios Papanastasiou ^[5]
•   Spain: Jordi Sans ^[6]

Medallists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's tournament	Spain (ESP) [1] Josep María Abarca Ángel Andreo Daniel Ballart Pedro Francisco García Salvador Gómez Manuel Estiarte Iván Moro Miguel Ángel Oca Jorge Payá Sergi Pedrerol Jesús Rollán Jordi Sans Carles Sans Head Coach: Joan Jané	Croatia (CRO) Maro Balić Perica Bukić Damir Glavan Igor Hinić Vjekoslav Kobešćak Joško Kreković Ognjen Kržić Dubravko Šimenc Siniša Školneković Ratko Štritof Renato Vrbičić Tino Vegar Zdeslav Vrdoljak Head Coach: Bruno Silić	Italy (ITA) Alberto Angelini Francesco Attolico Fabio Bencivenga Alessandro Bovo Alessandro Calcaterra Roberto Calcaterra Marco Gerini Alberto Ghibellini Luca Giustolisi Amedeo Pomilio Francesco Postiglione Carlo Silipo Leonardo Sottani Head Coach: Ratko Rudić

See also

• 1994 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship
• 1998 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship

References

Sources

• PDF documents in the LA84 Foundation Digital Library:
  • Official Report of the 1996 Olympic Games, v.3 ( download, archive) (pp. 56–73)
• Water polo on the Olympedia website
  • Water polo at the 1996 Summer Olympics ( men's tournament)
• Water polo on the Sports Reference website
  • Water polo at the 1996 Summer Games ( men's tournament) (archived)

External links

• "Official Olympic Report". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
• Results^{[ dead link]}