Women's water polo
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad

Tournament details
Host country	Japan
City	Tokyo
Venue(s)	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center
Dates	24 July – 7 August 2021
Teams	10 (from 5 confederations)
Competitors	130
Final positions
Champions	United States (3rd title)
Runners-up	Spain
Third place	Hungary
Fourth place	ROC
Tournament statistics
Matches	32
Goals scored	748 (23.38 per match)
Total attendance	0 (0 per match)
Multiple medalists	3-time medalist(s): 2 players
Top scorer(s)	Simone van de Kraats (28 goals in 7 matches)
Most saves	Ashleigh Johnson (80 saves in 7 matches)
Top sprinter(s)	Vanda Vályi (27 sprints won in 7 matches)
MVP	Maddie Musselman
← 2016 2024 →

Water polo at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Qualification
	men	women
Tournaments
	men	women
Rosters
	men	women
v t e

The women's tournament of water polo at the 2020 Summer Olympics at Tokyo, Japan was played from 24 July to 7 August 2021 at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center.^[1] It was the sixth appearance of the women's tournament, which had been held consecutively since 2000 and also was the first time on history that the tournament had 10 teams competing.

On 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] Because of the pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.^[3]

The United States won their third consecutive and overall gold medal after a finals win over Spain, while Hungary captured the bronze medal, beating defending bronze medalists Russia.^[4]

The medals for the competition were presented by Samira Asghari, Afghanistan; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Dale Neuburger, United States; FINA Treasurer.

Event	Dates	Hosts	Quota	Qualifier(s)
Host nation	—	—	1	Japan
2019 FINA World League	4–9 June 2019	Hungary	1	United States
2019 FINA World Championships	14–26 July 2019	Gwangju	1	Spain
2019 Pan American Games	4–10 August 2019	Lima	1	Canada
Oceanian Continental Selection	—	—	1	Australia
African Continental Selection	—	—	1	South Africa
2020 European Championships	12–25 January 2020	Budapest	1	ROC
2018 Asian Games[5][6][7]	16–21 August 2018	Jakarta	1	China
World Qualification Tournament	19–24 January 2021[8]	Trieste	2	Hungary
				Netherlands
Total			10

The competition began on 24 July, and matches were held every other day. At each match time, two matches were played simultaneously (two during the preliminary round, two quarterfinals during that round, one main semifinal and one classification semifinal during the semifinal round, and the two classification games on the final day) except for the bronze and gold medal matches.^[9][10][11]

The ten teams were seeded into two groups for a preliminary round and each group was played in a round-robin. The top four teams in each group advanced to the knockout round while the fifth placed teams and those ranked 9th and 10th based on win–loss record then goal average were eliminated. The knockout round began with quarterfinals, with the winners advanced to the semifinals, while the quarterfinal losers play in the fifth to eighth place classification semifinals. The two semifinal winners play in the gold medal match, while the two semifinal losers play in the bronze medal match.^[12]

The draw took place on 21 February 2021 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.^[13][14]

The ten teams in the women's tournament were drawn into two groups of five teams. The teams were seeded into five pots.^{[14]: 6:30 [15]}

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
United States  Spain	ROC  Australia	Hungary  Netherlands	Canada  China	South Africa  Japan (hosts)

The hosts Japan and the reigning Olympic champion the United States were both drawn into Group B.^{[14]: 15:33}

	Group A	Group B
1	Australia	ROC
2	South Africa	China
3	Netherlands	Hungary
4	Spain	United States
5	Canada	Japan

The following 28 referees were selected for the tournament.^{[16]: 275–276 [17]}

24 referees:

4 video assistant referees:

The schedule was announced on 9 March 2021.^[46]

All times are local (UTC+9).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	4	3	0	1	71	37	+34	6[a]	Quarterfinals
2	Australia	4	3	0	1	46	33	+13	6[a]
3	Netherlands	4	3	0	1	75	41	+34	6[a]
4	Canada	4	1	0	3	48	39	+9	2
5	South Africa	4	0	0	4	7	97	−90	0

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 15:30 v	Report	Canada	5–8	Australia	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Michael Goldenberg (USA), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 2–4, 1–2, 1–1
		Eggens 3	Goals	Halligan 3

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 18:20 v	Report	South Africa	4–29	Spain	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Asumi Tsuzaki (JPN), Ursula Wengenroth (SUI)
		Score by quarters: 2–5, 1–9, 1–5, 0–10
		Wedderburn 2	Goals	Ruiz 5

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 18:20 v	Report	Australia	15–12	Netherlands	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Arkadii Voevodin (RUS)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 2–5, 5–2, 5–2
		three players 3	Goals	four players 2

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 19:50 v	Report	Spain	14–10	Canada	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Nenad Periš (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 2–2, 3–2, 5–3
		Ortiz 4	Goals	Lemay-Lavoie 3

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 15:30 v	Report	Canada	21–1	South Africa	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Asumi Tsuzaki (JPN), John Waldow (NZL)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 4–0, 4–0, 8–0
		Sohi 4	Goals	Moir 1

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 19:50 v	Report	Netherlands	14–13	Spain	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Sébastien Dervieux (FRA), Michael Goldenberg (USA)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–2, 3–2, 6–6
		Van de Kraats 6	Goals	A. Espar 4

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 14:00 v	Report	South Africa	1–33	Netherlands	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Nicola Johnson (AUS), Ursula Wengenroth (SUI)
		Score by quarters: 0–7, 0–9, 1–9, 0–8
		Wedderburn 1	Goals	Keuning 6

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 19:50 v	Report	Spain	15–9	Australia	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Sébastien Dervieux (FRA), Arkadii Voevodin (RUS)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 4–3, 4–1, 4–2
		Ortiz 5	Goals	Kearns, Webster 2

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 15:30 v	Report	Netherlands	16–12	Canada	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Alessandro Severo (ITA), Nenad Periš (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 4–4, 4–3, 3–2, 5–3
		Van de Kraats 6	Goals	Christmas 4

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 19:50 v	Report	Australia	14–1	South Africa	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Daniel Daners (URU), Jeremy Cheng (SGP)
		Score by quarters: 1–0, 6–1, 4–0, 3–0
		five players 2	Goals	Vaughan 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	4	3	0	1	64	26	+38	6	Quarterfinals
2	Hungary	4	2	1	1	46	43	+3	5[a]
3	ROC	4	2	1	1	53	61	−8	5[a]
4	China	4	2	0	2	51	50	+1	4
5	Japan (H)	4	0	0	4	44	78	−34	0

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 14:00 v	Report	Japan	4–25	United States	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Germán Moller (ARG), Nicola Johnson (AUS)
		Score by quarters: 3–8, 0–6, 1–7, 0–4
		Koide 2	Goals	Haralabidis, Steffens 5

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 19:50 v	Report	China	17–18	ROC	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 6–5, 4–4, 4–5, 3–4
		Wang X. 4	Goals	Prokofyeva 4

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 14:00 v	Report	United States	12–7	China	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Alessandro Severo (ITA), Dion Willis (RSA)
		Score by quarters: 4–4, 2–2, 3–0, 3–1
		M. Fischer 3	Goals	Wang, Zhang J. 2

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 15:30 v	Report	ROC	10–10	Hungary	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Sébastien Dervieux (FRA), Xevi Buch (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 1–2, 3–5, 3–1, 3–2
		Prokofyeva 4	Goals	Leimeter, Szilágyi 2

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 14:00 v	Report	Hungary	10–9	United States	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Nenad Periš (CRO), Xevi Buch (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 3–3, 1–3, 4–1
		Parkes 3	Goals	Musselman 3

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 18:20 v	Report	China	16–11	Japan	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Viktor Salnichenko (KAZ)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 4–3, 4–3, 3–3
		Zhang 5	Goals	Arima 3

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 15:30 v	Report	United States	18–5	ROC	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Alessandro Severo (ITA), Xevi Buch (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 4–2, 6–1, 3–1
		Haralabidis, Steffens 4	Goals	Simanovich 2

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 18:20 v	Report	Japan	13–17	Hungary	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 4–3, 3–4, 3–5, 3–5
		Arima, Inaba 4	Goals	Parkes 6

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 14:00 v	Report	Hungary	9–11	China	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Viktor Salnichenko (KAZ), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 1–3, 2–1, 5–3
		Gurisatti 4	Goals	four players 2

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 18:20 v	Report	ROC	20–16	Japan	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Dion Willis (RSA)
		Score by quarters: 5–5, 7–3, 6–4, 2–4
		Serzhantova 4	Goals	Arima 5

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Gold medal
	3 August
	Spain	11
					5 August
	China	7
					Spain	8
	3 August
					Hungary	6
	Netherlands	11
									7 August
	Hungary	14
									Spain	5
	3 August
									United States	14
	Australia	8
					5 August
	ROC	9
					ROC	11
	3 August
					United States	15			Bronze medal
	Canada	5
									7 August
	United States	16
									Hungary	11
									ROC	9

5th place bracket

	5–8th place semifinals				Fifth place
	5 August
	China	6
					7 August
	Netherlands	13
					Netherlands	7
	5 August
					Australia	14
	Australia (pen.)	10 (4)
	Canada	10 (2)
					Seventh place
					7 August
					China	7
					Canada	16

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 14:00 v	Report	Canada	5–16	United States	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Asumi Tsuzaki (JPN), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 1–7, 2–4, 0–0, 2–5
		La Roche 2	Goals	three players 3

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 15:30 v	Report	Spain	11–7	China	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Sébastien Dervieux (FRA), Michael Goldenberg (USA)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 4–3, 2–1, 0–1
		Forca 4	Goals	Deng 2

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 18:20 v	Report	Netherlands	11–14	Hungary	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Nenad Periš (CRO), Alessandro Severo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 4–4, 2–2, 2–4
		Van der Kraats 4	Goals	Leimeter 4

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 19:50 v	Report	Australia	8–9	ROC	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Xevi Buch (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 2–4, 2–2, 2–2, 2–1
		Armit, Halligan 2	Goals	three players 2

5 August 2021 (2021-08-05) 14:00 v	Report	China	6–13	Netherlands	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Viktor Salnichenko (KAZ), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 0–1, 2–5, 1–2, 3–5
		Deng 2	Goals	Keuning 5

5 August 2021 (2021-08-05) 18:20 v	Report	Australia	14–12	Canada	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Ursula Wengenroth (SUI), Alessandro Severo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–2, 3–3, 2–2  PSO: 4–2
		Arancini 5	Goals	four players 2

5 August 2021 (2021-08-05) 15:30 v	Report	ROC	11–15	United States	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Stanko Ivanovski (MNE), Dion Willis (RSA)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 4–4, 2–5, 2–4
		Bersneva 3	Goals	Musselman 5

5 August 2021 (2021-08-05) 19:50 v	Report	Spain	8–6	Hungary	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Nenad Periš (CRO), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 2–0, 3–2, 3–2, 0–2
		A. Espar 3	Goals	Szilágyi 3

7 August 2021 (2021-08-07) 09:30 v	Report	China	7–16	Canada	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Nicola Johnson (AUS), Asumi Tsuzaki (JPN)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 2–5, 1–4, 1–3
		Zhang J. 4	Goals	Christmas 4

7 August 2021 (2021-08-07) 11:00 v	Report	Netherlands	7–14	Australia	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Xevi Buch (ESP), Dion Willis (RSA)
		Score by quarters: 1–5, 1–3, 2–3, 3–3
		Van de Kraats 3	Goals	Gofers 3

7 August 2021 (2021-08-07) 13:40 v	Report	Hungary	11–9	ROC	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 5–3, 0–3, 4–1
		Vályi 3	Goals	three players 2

7 August 2021 (2021-08-07) 16:30 v	Report	Spain	5–14	United States	Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center Referees: Nenad Periš (CRO), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 3–3, 0–5, 1–2
		García 2	Goals	Musselman 3

Rank Team[47]  United States  Spain  Hungary 4  ROC 5  Australia 6  Netherlands 7  Canada 8  China 9  Japan 10  South Africa

2020 Women's Olympic champions  United States Third title

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States (USA) Ashleigh Johnson (GK) Maddie Musselman Melissa Seidemann Rachel Fattal Paige Hauschild Maggie Steffens (C) Stephania Haralabidis (LH) Jamie Neushul Aria Fischer Kaleigh Gilchrist Makenzie Fischer Alys Williams Amanda Longan (GK) Head coach: Adam Krikorian	Spain (ESP) Laura Ester (GK) Marta Bach Anni Espar Beatriz Ortiz Elena Ruiz Irene González Clara Espar Pili Peña (C, LH) Judith Forca (LH) Roser Tarragó Maica García Paula Leitón Elena Sánchez (GK) Head coach: Miki Oca	Hungary (HUN) Edina Gangl (GK) Dorottya Szilágyi Vanda Vályi Gréta Gurisatti Gabriella Szűcs Rebecca Parkes Anna Illés Rita Keszthelyi (C) Dóra Leimeter (LH) Anikó Gyöngyössy Nataša Rybanská Krisztina Garda Alda Magyari (GK) Head coach: Attila Bíró

Rank	Team	Goals for	Matches played	Goals for per match	Shots	%	Finish
1	United States	109	7	15.571	234	46.6%	1st
2	Netherlands	106	7	15.143	211	50.2%	6th
3	Spain	95	7	13.571	250	38.0%	2nd
4	ROC	82	7	11.714	211	38.9%	4th
5	Canada	79	7	11.286	228	34.6%	7th
6	Australia	78	7	11.143	210	37.1%	5th
7	Hungary	77	7	11.000	204	37.7%	3rd
7	Japan	44	4	11.000	128	34.4%	9th
9	China	71	7	10.143	196	36.2%	8th
10	South Africa	7	4	1.750	68	10.3%	10th
Total		748	32	11.688	1940	38.6%

Source: Official Results Book (page 224)^[16]

Rank	Team	Goals against	Matches played	Goals against per match	Shots	%	Finish
1	United States	47	7	6.714	208	22.6%	1st
2	Australia	59	7	8.429	177	33.3%	5th
3	Spain	64	7	9.143	183	35.0%	2nd
4	Hungary	71	7	10.143	217	32.7%	3rd
5	Canada	72	7	10.286	198	36.4%	7th
6	Netherlands	75	7	10.714	207	36.2%	6th
7	China	90	7	12.857	220	40.9%	8th
8	ROC	95	7	13.571	231	41.1%	4th
9	Japan	78	4	19.500	128	60.9%	9th
10	South Africa	97	4	24.250	171	56.7%	10th
Total		748	32	11.688	1940	38.6%

Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)^[16]

Rank	Team	Goals for	Goals against	Goal diff.	Matches played	Goals diff. per match	Finish
1	United States	109	47	62	7	8.857	1st
2	Netherlands	106	75	31	7	4.429	6th
2	Spain	95	64	31	7	4.429	2nd
4	Australia	78	59	19	7	2.714	5th
5	Canada	79	72	7	7	1.000	7th
6	Hungary	77	71	6	7	0.857	3rd
7	ROC	82	95	−13	7	−1.857	4th
8	China	71	90	−19	7	−2.714	8th
9	Japan	44	78	−34	4	−8.500	9th
10	South Africa	7	97	−90	4	−22.500	10th
Total		748	748	0	32	0.000

Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)^[16]

Rank	Team	Saves	Matches played	Saves per match	Shots	%	Finish
1	United States	84	7	12.000	131	64.1%	1st
2	South Africa	44	4	11.000	141	31.2%	10th
3	Netherlands	64	7	9.143	139	46.0%	6th
4	China	60	7	8.571	150	40.0%	8th
5	ROC	59	7	8.429	154	38.3%	4th
6	Australia	58	7	8.286	117	49.6%	5th
7	Hungary	54	7	7.714	125	43.2%	3rd
8	Canada	52	7	7.429	124	41.9%	7th
9	Japan	27	4	6.750	105	25.7%	9th
10	Spain	46	7	6.571	110	41.8%	2nd
Total		548	32	8.563	1296	42.3%

Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)^[16]

Rank	Team	Blocks	Matches played	Blocks per match	Finish
1	Spain	34	7	4.857	2nd
2	Hungary	33	7	4.714	3rd
3	Canada	31	7	4.429	7th
4	United States	30	7	4.286	1st
5	Netherlands	28	7	4.000	6th
6	Australia	27	7	3.857	5th
7	China	25	7	3.571	8th
7	ROC	25	7	3.571	4th
9	South Africa	6	4	1.500	10th
10	Japan	0	4	0.000	9th
Total		239	32	3.734

Source: Official Results Book (page 224)^[16]

Rank	Team	Rebounds	Matches played	Rebounds per match	Finish
1	United States	52	7	7.429	1st
2	Hungary	47	7	6.714	3rd
3	Spain	43	7	6.143	2nd
4	Australia	41	7	5.857	5th
5	ROC	39	7	5.571	4th
6	Netherlands	32	7	4.571	6th
7	South Africa	18	4	4.500	10th
8	Canada	30	7	4.286	7th
9	China	24	7	3.429	8th
10	Japan	9	4	2.250	9th
Total		335	32	5.234

Source: Official Results Book (page 224)^[16]

Rank	Team	Steals	Matches played	Steals per match	Finish
1	Australia	63	7	9.000	5th
2	Japan	31	4	7.750	9th
3	Netherlands	51	7	7.286	6th
3	Spain	51	7	7.286	2nd
5	Canada	50	7	7.143	7th
6	United States	48	7	6.857	1st
7	ROC	42	7	6.000	4th
8	Hungary	39	7	5.571	3rd
9	China	30	7	4.286	8th
10	South Africa	13	4	3.250	10th
Total		418	32	6.531

Source: Official Results Book (page 224)^[16]

Rank	Team	Sprints won	Matches played	Sprints won per match	Sprints contested	%	Finish
1	Hungary	27	7	3.857	28	96.4%	3rd
2	Netherlands	19	7	2.714	28	67.9%	6th
3	United States	18	7	2.571	28	64.3%	1st
4	Spain	16	7	2.286	28	57.1%	2nd
5	Canada	12	7	1.714	28	42.9%	7th
5	ROC	12	7	1.714	28	42.9%	4th
7	Australia	11	7	1.571	28	39.3%	5th
8	China	7	7	1.000	28	25.0%	8th
8	South Africa	4	4	1.000	16	25.0%	10th
10	Japan	2	4	0.500	16	12.5%	9th
Total		128	32	2.000	256	50.0%

Source: Official Results Book (page 224)^[16]

Rank	Team	Turnovers	Matches played	Turnovers per match	Finish
1	Spain	31	7	4.429	2nd
2	Canada	34	7	4.857	7th
2	China	34	7	4.857	8th
2	United States	34	7	4.857	1st
5	Japan	22	4	5.500	9th
6	ROC	39	7	5.571	4th
7	Australia	40	7	5.714	5th
7	Netherlands	40	7	5.714	6th
9	Hungary	41	7	5.857	3rd
10	South Africa	34	4	8.500	10th
Total		349	32	5.453

Source: Official Results Book (page 224)^[16]

Rank	Team	Exclusions with substitution	Matches played	Exclusions w/subst per match	Finish
1	Japan	1	4	0.250	9th
2	Canada	2	7	0.286	7th
3	United States	3	7	0.429	1st
4	Netherlands	4	7	0.571	6th
4	Spain	4	7	0.571	2nd
6	Australia	5	7	0.714	5th
7	South Africa	3	4	0.750	10th
8	Hungary	6	7	0.857	3rd
9	ROC	9	7	1.286	4th
10	China	12	7	1.714	8th
Total		49	32	0.766

Source: Official Results Book (page 224)^[16]

Three-time Olympic medalist(s): 2 players

•  United States: Melissa Seidemann,^[48] Maggie Steffens^[49]