The 1976 Olympic water polo tournament was held at the Piscine Olympique (Montréal Olympic Pool), which had been built specifically for the Montréal Olympics. It hosted swimming, diving, water polo, and the swimming section of the modern pentathlon in 1976, with an indoor seating capacity of 10,000, which was decreased to just over 3,000 after the Olympics ended.
The format was similar to 1972. Twelve teams were separated into three round-robin preliminary pools, with the two leading teams in each pool advancing to the final round, and the others competing in a consolation pool. The final pool and consolation group had six teams each, in a round-robin format. However, unlike in previous years, the finals pools saw all teams face each other, as no match results from the preliminary rounds were carried over.
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