| Date | 24 July – 7 August 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Kōtō, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Participants | 130 from 10 countries | |
| Format | Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches. | |
The clear favorite in the women’s tournament was the United States team, which had won the last two gold medals, the World Championships in 2015, 2017, and 2019, and also the 2019 World League. The group stages were very close in both groups. The USA lost in an upset against Hungary, but still won their group. In the other group Australia, Spain, and the Netherlands were tied with 3 wins and 1 loss and were only classified according to their head-to-head results. The USA easily won their quarter- and semi-final, while Spain defeated China and Hungary to also advance to the final.
In the final the United States continued their dominance, easily defeating Spain, 14-5, to win their third gold medal in a row. Hungary, the record winner in men’s water polo, won the bronze medal match against the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team and secured its first ever women water polo medal.
| Date | 24 July – 1 August 2021 |
|---|
| Date | 24 July – 1 August 2021 |
|---|---|
| Format | Round-robin pool. |
| Pos | Team | NOC | Wins | Ties | Losses | Points | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | ESP | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 71-37 | ||
| 2 | Australia | AUS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 46-33 | ||
| 3 | Netherlands | NED | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 75-41 | ||
| 4 | Canada | CAN | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 48-39 | ||
| 5 | South Africa | RSA | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7-97 |
| Match | Date/Time | Team | NOC | Result | Team | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 24 Jul 14:00 | Australia 1 | AUS | 8 – 5 | Canada | CAN | |
| Match #2 | 24 Jul 15:30 | Spain 2 | ESP | 29 – 4 | South Africa 3 | RSA | |
| Match #3 | 26 Jul 18:20 | Australia 4 | AUS | 15 – 12 | Netherlands | NED | |
| Match #4 | 26 Jul 19:50 | Spain 5 | ESP | 14 – 10 | Canada | CAN | |
| Match #5 | 28 Jul 14:00 | Canada | CAN | 21 – 1 | South Africa 6 | RSA | |
| Match #6 | 28 Jul 15:30 | Netherlands | NED | 14 – 13 | Spain 7 | ESP | |
| Match #7 | 30 Jul 14:00 | Netherlands | NED | 33 – 1 | South Africa 8 | RSA | |
| Match #8 | 30 Jul 19:50 | Spain 9 | ESP | 15 – 9 | Australia 10 | AUS | |
| Match #9 | 01 Aug 15:30 | Netherlands 11 | NED | 16 – 12 | Canada 12 | CAN | |
| Match #10 | 01 Aug 19:50 | Australia | AUS | 14 – 1 | South Africa 13 | RSA |
| Date | 24 July – 1 August 2021 |
|---|---|
| Format | Round-robin pool. |
| Pos | Team | NOC | Wins | Ties | Losses | Points | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | USA | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 64-26 | ||
| 2 | Hungary | HUN | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 46-43 | ||
| 3 | ROC | ROC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 53-61 | ||
| 4 | People's Republic of China | CHN | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 51-50 | ||
| 5 | Japan | JPN | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 44-78 |
| Match | Date/Time | Team | NOC | Result | Team | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 24 Jul 18:20 | United States | USA | 25 – 4 | Japan 14 | JPN | |
| Match #2 | 24 Jul 19:50 | ROC | ROC | 18 – 17 | People's Republic of China 15 | CHN | |
| Match #3 | 26 Jul 14:00 | United States | USA | 12 – 7 | People's Republic of China 16 | CHN | |
| Match #4 | 26 Jul 15:30 | ROC 17 | ROC | 10 – 10 | Hungary | HUN | |
| Match #5 | 28 Jul 18:20 | Hungary 18 | HUN | 10 – 9 | United States | USA | |
| Match #6 | 28 Jul 19:50 | People's Republic of China 19 | CHN | 16 – 11 | Japan | JPN | |
| Match #7 | 30 Jul 15:30 | United States 20 | USA | 18 – 5 | ROC | ROC | |
| Match #8 | 30 Jul 18:20 | Hungary 21 | HUN | 17 – 13 | Japan 22 | JPN | |
| Match #9 | 01 Aug 14:00 | People's Republic of China 23 | CHN | 11 – 9 | Hungary | HUN | |
| Match #10 | 01 Aug 18:20 | ROC 24 | ROC | 20 – 16 | Japan 25 | JPN |
| Date | 3 August 2021 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winners of each match advanced to semi-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 03 Aug 14:00 | United States | USA | 16 – 5 | Canada 26 | CAN | |
| Match #2 | 03 Aug 15:30 | Spain 27 | ESP | 11 – 7 | People's Republic of China 28 | CHN | |
| Match #3 | 03 Aug 18:20 | Hungary | HUN | 14 – 11 | Netherlands 29 | NED | |
| Match #4 | 03 Aug 19:50 | ROC 30 | ROC | 9 – 8 | Australia 31 | AUS |
| Date | 5 – 7 August 2021 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 05 Aug 18:20 | Netherlands 32 | NED | 13 – 6 | People's Republic of China | CHN | |
| Match #2 | 07 Aug 9:30 | Australia 33 | AUS | 10 – 10 | Canada | CAN |
| Date | 5 August 2021 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winners of each match advanced to finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 05 Aug 18:20 | United States | USA | 15 – 11 | ROC 34 | ROC | |
| Match #2 | 05 Aug 19:50 | Spain | ESP | 8 – 6 | Hungary | HUN |
| Date | 5 – 7 August 2021 |
|---|---|
| Format | Classification round. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 1/2 | 07 Aug 16:30 | United States 35 | USA | 14 – 5 | Spain 36 | ESP | |
| Match 3/4 | 07 Aug 13:40 | Hungary 37 | HUN | 11 – 9 | ROC 38 | ROC | |
| Match 5/6 | 07 Aug 11:00 | Australia 39 | AUS | 14 – 7 | Netherlands 40 | NED | |
| Match 7/8 | 05 Aug 14:00 | Canada 41 | CAN | 16 – 7 | People's Republic of China 42 | CHN |