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Water Polo, Women

Date11 – 21 August 2008
StatusOlympic
LocationYingdong Youyongguan, Beijing Aolinpike Gongyuan, Beijing
Participants103 from 8 countries
FormatRound-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches. Winner of each pool advanced to semi-finals.

The United States was the World Champion and World Cup champion coming into the Olympics, having defeated their arch-rival, Australia, in the final match of the 2007 World Championship and 2006 World Cup. The USA had been world silver medalist in 2005, losing in the finals to Hungary. Defending Olympic champion Italy, also the 2001 World Champion, had somewhat fallen from their perch, not making the podium in either 2005 or 2007.

The United States and Hungary followed the seeding and won their group play, seeding directly into the semi-finals, as Greece and Russia were eliminated from medal contention. In the quarter-finals, Australia and the Netherlands moved on to the semis, defeating China and Italy, respectively. The USA met Australia in the semis, defeating them 9-8, while the Netherlands qualified for the final by defeating Hungary 8-7.

The final started out as a rout as the Netherlands went ahead, 4-0, the first two goals scored by their star, Daniëlle de Bruijn, but the USA fought back and tied the match, 5-5, at halftime. De Bruijn again scored the first two goals of the second half to give her team a 7-5 lead, but the Americans again clawed back, and tied it 8-8, when Moriah van Norman scored early in the fourth quarter. However, Daniëlle de Bruijn was the best player of the 2008 women’s tournament, and with only 26 seconds left on the clock, she scored again to give the Netherlands the 9-8 lead, with one US player in the sin bin, and the eventual gold medal. It was her seventh goal of the match, an Olympic record. Dutch goalie Ilse van der Meijden saved the gold medal for the Netherlands with two saves in the final 10 seconds of the match.

At three Olympic women’s water polo tournaments, the USA had medalled each time but had yet to win the gold medal. De Bruijn was the leading scorer of the 2008 women’s event, scoring 17 goals, including her seven in the final match. In the quarter-final match between Italy and the Netherlands, Hungary’s Ágnes Valkai faced her sister, Erzsébet Valkai, who had played for Hungary in 2004, but by 2008 was representing Italy, having married Italian volleyballer Roberto Vestuto.

PosNumberTeamNOC
1NetherlandsNEDGold
Goalkeeper1Ilse van der Meijden
2Yasemin Smit
3Mieke Cabout
4Biurakn Hakhverdian
5Marieke van den Ham
6Daniëlle de Bruijn
7Iefke van Belkum
8Noeki Klein
9Gillian van den Berg
10Alette Sijbring
11Rianne Guichelaar
12Simone Koot
13Meike de Nooy DNS
CoachRobin van Galen
2United StatesUSASilver
Goalkeeper1Betsey Armstrong
2Heather Petri
3Brittany Hayes
4Brenda Villa
5Lauren Wenger
6Natalie Golda
7Patty Cardenas
8Jessica Steffens
9Elsie Windes
10Alison Gregorka
11Moriah Van Norman
12Kami Craig
Goalkeeper13Jaime Hipp
CoachGuy Baker
3AustraliaAUSBronze
Goalkeeper1Emma Knox
2Gemma Beadsworth
3Nikita Cuffe
4Bec Rippon
5Suzie Fraser
6Bronwen Knox
7Taniele Gofers
8Kate Gynther
9Jenna Santoromito
10Mia Santoromito
11Mel Rippon
12Amy Hetzel
Goalkeeper13Alicia McCormack
CoachGreg McFadden
4HungaryHUN
Goalkeeper1Patrícia Horváth
2Krisztina Szremkó
3Anett Györe
4Dóra Kisteleki
5Mercédesz Stieber
6Orsolya Takács
7Rita Drávucz
8Krisztina Zantleitner
9Fruzsina Brávik
10Anikó Pelle
11Ágnes Valkai
12Ágnes Primász
Goalkeeper13Ildikó Sós Zirigh
CoachGábor Godova
5People's Republic of ChinaCHN
Goalkeeper1Yang Jun
2Teng Fei
3Liu Ping
4Sun Yujun
5He Jin
6Sun Yating
7Wang Ying
8Gao Ao
9Wang Yi
10Ma Huanhuan
11Sun Huizi
12Qiao Leiying
Goalkeeper13Tan Ying
CoachJuan Jané
6ItalyITA
Goalkeeper1Elena Gigli
2Martina Miceli
3Elisa Casanova
4Silvia Bosurgi
5Erzsébet Valkay
6Emanuela Zanchi
7Tania Di Mario
8Cinzia Ragusa
9Francesca Pavan
10Federica Rocco
11Maddalena Musumeci
12Teresa Frassinetti
Goalkeeper13Chiara Brancati
CoachMauro Maugeri
7Russian FederationRUS
Goalkeeper1Valentina Vorontsova
2Nataliya Shepelina
3Yekaterina Prokofyeva
4Sofya Konukh
5Alyona Vylegzhanina
6Nadezhda Glyzina-Fedotova
7Yekaterina Pantyulina-Lisunova
8Yevgeniya Soboleva
9Oleksandra Karpovich
10Olga Belyayeva
11Yelena Smurova
12Olga Turova
Goalkeeper13Yevgeniya Protsenko
CoachAleksandr Kleymenov
8GreeceGRE
Goalkeeper1Georgia Ellinaki
2Christina Tsoukala
3Angeliki Gerolymou
4Sofia Iosifidou
5Kiki Liosi
6Voula Kozompoli
7Katerina Oikonomopoulou
8Antigoni Roumpesi
9Evi Moraitidou
10Alexandra Asimaki
11Stavroula Antonakou
12Georgia Lara
Goalkeeper13Maria Tsouri
CoachKyriakos Iosifidis

Preliminary Round

Date11 – 15 August 2008

Group A

Date11 – 15 August 2008
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1United StatesUSA210533-27
2ItalyITA210528-26
3People's Republic of ChinaCHN102233-33
4Russian FederationRUS003026-34
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #111 Aug 14:20ItalyITA9 – 8Russian FederationRUSAET
Match #211 Aug 17:00United StatesUSA12 – 11People's Republic of ChinaCHN
Match #313 Aug 15:40ItalyITA9 – 9United StatesUSA
Match #413 Aug 17:00People's Republic of ChinaCHN13 – 11Russian FederationRUS
Match #515 Aug 14:20United StatesUSA12 – 7Russian FederationRUS
Match #615 Aug 17:00ItalyITA10 – 9People's Republic of ChinaCHN

Group B

Date11 – 15 August 2008
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1HungaryHUN210528-20
2AustraliaAUS210525-22
3NetherlandsNED102227-27
4GreeceGRE003016-27
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #111 Aug 13:00HungaryHUN11 – 9NetherlandsNED
Match #211 Aug 15:40AustraliaAUS8 – 6GreeceGRE
Match #313 Aug 13:00AustraliaAUS7 – 7HungaryHUN
Match #413 Aug 14:20NetherlandsNED9 – 6GreeceGRE
Match #515 Aug 13:00AustraliaAUS10 – 9NetherlandsNED
Match #615 Aug 15:40HungaryHUN10 – 4GreeceGRE

Quarter-Finals

Date17 August 2008
FormatWinners of each match advanced to semi-finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #117 Aug 14:20AustraliaAUS12 – 11People's Republic of ChinaCHN
Match #217 Aug 15:40NetherlandsNED13 – 11ItalyITA

Semi-Finals

Date19 August 2008
FormatWinners of each match advanced to finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #119 Aug 14:20United StatesUSA9 – 8AustraliaAUS
Match #219 Aug 15:40NetherlandsNED8 – 7HungaryHUN

Final Round

Date17 – 21 August 2008
FormatClassification round.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match 1/221 Aug 18:20NetherlandsNED9 – 8United StatesUSA
Match 3/421 Aug 17:00AustraliaAUS12 – 11HungaryHUN
Match 5/619 Aug 13:00People's Republic of ChinaCHN10 – 7ItalyITA
Match 7/817 Aug 13:00Russian FederationRUS12 – 6GreeceGRE