The United States did not enter a team, which opened the tournament to Argentina. The USA had won the Cup de las Americas in 1928 and 1932, but Argentina won that tournament early in 1936, defeating the USA twice. The Argentine team of Luis Duggan, Roberto Cavanagh, Andrès Gazzoni, and Manuel Andrada competed at the Cup de las Americas and the same team won the Olympic gold medal easily, defeating Mexico 15-5, and Great Britain in the final, 11-0. This was the 5th and final appearance at the Olympic Games for polo, which remained the last sport to have been removed from the Olympic Program until baseball and softball were excluded after the 2008 Olympics. Remarkably the Hungarian and German teams were considered to be so weak that they were placed in a separate pool. The winner, Hungary, was allowed to play for the bronze medal, but were swept away by Mexico 16-2.