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Water Polo, Men

Date28 November – 7 December 1956
StatusOlympic
LocationOlympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants96 from 10 countries
FormatRound-robin pools advanced teams to the round-robin final pool.

The 1956 Olympics started on 22 November in Melbourne. Eighteen days before they started, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in response to a student-led revolution that had started on 23 October. The revolt spread quickly and the government fell, which led the USSR to send in 200,000 troops. By 10 November the Soviets had put down the revolution, installing their own puppet government, killing thousands of Hungarians, with over 200,000 fleeing the country. In response to Soviet actions, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands boycotted the Melbourne Olympics, with the Dutch water polo team sorely missed as they had placed fourth at the 1954 Europeans. Hungary competed in Melbourne, but many of their athletes would defect, often later competing for other nations. Nowhere was the conflict between the two nations seen more clearly at the Olympics than in the water polo pool.

Hungary had won the last two Olympic gold medals and was considered the top side in the world. They advanced to the final round, along with Yugoslavia, Italy, and the Soviets. On 6 December Hungary and the Soviet Union met in a water polo match that reverberated throughout the world. The water was crimson as Hungary attacked the Soviet players, who likewise retaliated. One famous picture shown on wire services was of Hungarian player Ervin Zádor, his head cut, with blood streaming down his face as he stepped out of the pool. The match had to be stopped by the referee before the end of the regular time, with Hungary leading 4-0. They would go undefeated in Melbourne in 1956 and win the gold medal, the Soviets taking bronze, behind Yugoslavia. But Hungary won something greater, their dignity, having refused to bow to totalitarian pressure from the USSR.

PosNumberTeamNOC
1HungaryHUNGold
Antal Bolvári 1
Ottó Boros
Dezső Gyarmati 2
István Hevesi
László Jeney
Tivadar Kanizsa
György Kárpáti 3
Kálmán Markovits 4
Mihály Mayer 5
István Szívós, Sr.
Ervin Zádor 6
Miklós Martin DNS
CoachBéla Rajki-Reich
2YugoslaviaYUGSilver
Ivo Cipci
Tomislav Franjković
Vladimir Ivković
Zdravko Ježić
Hrvoje Kačić
Zdravko-Ćiro Kovačić
Lovro Radonić
Marijan Žužej
Juraj Amšel DNS
Ivo Štakula DNS
Boško Vuksanović DNS
CoachBožo Grkinić
3Soviet UnionURSBronze
Viktor Ageyev
Pyotr Breus 7
Boris Goykhman
Nodar Gvakharia 8
Vyacheslav Kurennoy 9
Boris Markarov 10
P'et're Mshvenieradze 11
Valentin Prokopov
Mikhail Ryzhak
Yury Shlyapin
Georgy Lesin DNS
CoachVitaly Ushakov
4ItalyITA
Nino Antonelli
Alfonso Buonocore
Enzo Cavazzoni
Maurizio D'Achille 12
Giuseppe D'Altrui
Fritz Dennerlein 13
Luigi Mannelli 14
Angelo Marciani 15
Paolo Pucci
Cesare Rubini 16
Rosario Parmegiani DNS
CoachBandy Zolyomy
5United StatesUSA
Bob Frojen
Jim Gaughran
Ken Hahn
Bob Horn
Bob Hughes 17
Sam Kooistra 18
Bill Kooistra 19
Bill Ross
Ronald Severa
Wally Wolf
Donald Good DNS
CoachNeill Kohlhase
6Unified Team of GermanyGER
Emil Bildstein
Wilfried Bode 20
Harry Hilker
Karl Neuse
Alfred Obschernikat
Friedhelm Osselmann
Erich Pennekamp
Achim Schneider 21
Hans-Werner Seher 22
Willi Sturm 23
CoachHans Schulze
7Great BritainGBR
Jack Ferguson 24
Arthur Grady
Jack Jones
Bob Knights
Terry Miller 25
Peter Pass 26
Cliff Spooner
Ron Turner 27
Gerry Worsell
CoachEdwin Wright
8RomaniaROU
Alexandru Bădiță 28
Ivan Bordi
Iosif Deutsch
Zoltan Hospodar 29
Alexandru Marinescu
Gavril Nagy 30
Francisc Șimon 31
Alexandru Szabo 32
Aurel Zahan 33
Alexandru Popescu DNS
I. Tothpal DNS
CoachVasile Daroczi
9AustraliaAUS
Peter Bennett 34
Jake Foster
Doug Laing
Bill McCabe
John O'Brien
Bill Orchard
Ted Pierce 35
Ray Smee
Keith Whitehead
Allan Charleston DNS
CoachColin French
10SingaporeSGP
Lionel Chee
Gan Eng Teck 36
David Lim
Lim Teck Pan
Christopher Oh 37
Tan Eng Bock 38
Thio Gim Hock
Skip Wolters
Wiebe Wolters 39
Eric Yeo 40
Tan Eng Liang DNS
CoachBee Kee Soon

Preliminary Round

Date28 – 30 November 1956

Group A

Date28 – 30 November 1956
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1YugoslaviaYUG300615-5
2Soviet UnionURS20149-6
3RomaniaROU10229-9
4AustraliaAUS00303-16
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #128 Nov 14:00RomaniaROU4 – 2AustraliaAUS
Match #228 Nov 19:30YugoslaviaYUG3 – 2Soviet UnionURS
Match #329 Nov 21:15Soviet UnionURS4 – 3RomaniaROU
Match #429 Nov 22:15YugoslaviaYUG9 – 1AustraliaAUS
Match #530 Nov 10:30YugoslaviaYUG3 – 2RomaniaROU
Match #630 Nov 16:00Soviet UnionURS3 – 0AustraliaAUS

Group B

Date28 – 30 November 1956
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1HungaryHUN200412-3
2United StatesUSA10127-9
3Great BritainGBR00204-11
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #128 Nov 20:30United StatesUSA5 – 3Great BritainGBR
Match #229 Nov 15:45HungaryHUN6 – 1Great BritainGBR
Match #330 Nov 11:30HungaryHUN6 – 2United StatesUSA

Group C

Date28 – 30 November 1956
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1ItalyITA200411-3
2Unified Team of GermanyGER10127-5
3SingaporeSGP00202-12
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #128 Nov 15:00Unified Team of GermanyGER5 – 1SingaporeSGP
Match #229 Nov 16:45ItalyITA7 – 1SingaporeSGP
Match #330 Nov 20:10ItalyITA4 – 2Unified Team of GermanyGER

Classification Round 7-10

Date6 – 7 December 1956
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1Great BritainGBR300621-9
2RomaniaROU201421-841
3AustraliaAUS10227-1142
4SingaporeSGP00308-29
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #1Great BritainGBR11 – 5SingaporeSGP
Match #2Great BritainGBR5 – 2RomaniaROU
Match #306 DecAustraliaAUS3 – 2SingaporeSGP
Match #407 DecRomaniaROU15 – 1SingaporeSGP
Match #507 DecGreat BritainGBR5 – 2AustraliaAUS

Final Round

Date1 – 7 December 1956
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1HungaryHUN5001020-343
2YugoslaviaYUG311713-844
3Soviet UnionURS302614-1445
4ItalyITA203410-1346
5United StatesUSA104210-2047
6Unified Team of GermanyGER014111-2048
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #101 Dec 14:40Soviet UnionURS3 – 2ItalyITA
Match #201 Dec 22:40YugoslaviaYUG5 – 1United StatesUSA
Match #303 Dec 16:50United StatesUSA4 – 3Unified Team of GermanyGER
Match #403 Dec 21:30HungaryHUN4 – 0ItalyITA
Match #504 Dec 15:40YugoslaviaYUG2 – 2Unified Team of GermanyGER
Match #604 Dec 21:00ItalyITA3 – 2United StatesUSA
Match #705 Dec 16:40Soviet UnionURS3 – 1United StatesUSA
Match #805 Dec 22:20HungaryHUN4 – 0Unified Team of GermanyGER
Match #906 Dec 15:25HungaryHUN4 – 0Soviet UnionURS
Match #1006 Dec 21:55YugoslaviaYUG2 – 1ItalyITA
Match #1107 Dec 14:00Soviet UnionURS6 – 4Unified Team of GermanyGER
Match #1207 Dec 21:20HungaryHUN2 – 1YugoslaviaYUG