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Water Polo, Women

Date30 July – 9 August 2012
StatusOlympic
LocationWater Polo Arena, Olympic Park, Stratford, London
Participants102 from 8 countries
FormatRound-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches.

Unusually the women’s tournament lacked the presence of both the world champions and the Olympic champions. Greece had won the 2011 world title but the champions were not guaranteed an Olympic title and so they had to make their way to the Games through the official Olympic qualifying tournament. A shock defeat to Spain in the quarter-final meant they would be kicking their heels at home at the time of the London Games. The Dutch team, which had won gold in Beijing, suffered an identical fate at the hands of an Italian team who had been their predecessors as Olympic champions.

Because of the format of the competition the group stage was only useful in determining the draw for the quarter-finals. Spain proved their performance in the qualifying tournament was no flash in the pan by winning their group in London while the other group was won by an impressive Australia team. Australia faltered in the knockout stages and, after surviving a shootout against China, fell in the semi-final to the USA. In contrast Spain continued on their winning ways and dispatched Great Britain and Hungary on their route to a rematch of a 9-9 tie they had with the Americans in the group stage.

Mid-way through the second quarter of the final, with the score tied at 2-2, Jessica Steffens set up a goal scoring chance for little sister Maggie Steffens which she duly converted. The younger Steffens blazed a trail of destruction on the Spaniards for the rest of the final and finished by scoring 5 of the American team’s goals in an 8-5 victory to ensure a first Olympic title for the US women. The USA had been among the favorites at each Olympics since the introduction of women’s water polo in 2000 but had been losing finalists in both 2000 and 2004 and bronze medalists in 2008. America had won 3 of the last 5 World Championships but ironically their first Olympic gold medal came after a sixth place finish at the 2011 Worlds – their worst performance in over a decade. The bronze medal in London was won by Australia with an overtime victory over Hungary.

PosNumberTeamNOC
1United StatesUSAGold
Goalkeeper1Betsey Armstrong
Defense2Heather Petri
Centre Back3Melissa Seidemann
Defense4Brenda Villa
Defense5Lauren Wenger
Centre Back6Maggie Steffens
Defense7Courtney Mathewson
Centre Back8Jessica Steffens
Centre Back9Elsie Windes
Defense10Kelly Rulon
Centre Forward11Annika Dries
Centre Forward12Kami Craig
Goalkeeper13Tumua Anae DNS
CoachAdam Krikorian
2SpainESPSilver
Goalkeeper1Laura Ester
Centre Back2Marta Bach
Defense3Anna Espar
Defense4Roser Tarragó
Centre Back5Mati Ortiz
Defense6Jenny Pareja
Centre Back7Lorena Miranda
Defense8Pili Peña
Centre Forward9Andrea Blas
Defense10Ona Meseguer
Centre Forward11Maica García
Defense12Laura López
Goalkeeper13Ana Copado DNS
CoachMiki Oca
3AustraliaAUSBronze
Goalkeeper1Victoria Brown
Centre Forward2Gemma Beadsworth
Centre Back3Sophie Smith
Centre Forward4Holly Lincoln-Smith
Defense5Jane Moran
Centre Forward6Bronwen Knox
Centre Back7Rowie Webster
Defense8Kate Gynther
Centre Back9Glencora Ralph-McGhie
Centre Forward10Ash Southern
Defense11Mel Rippon
Defense12Nicola Zagame
Goalkeeper13Alicia McCormack
CoachGreg McFadden
4HungaryHUN
Goalkeeper1Flóra Bolonyai
Centre Forward2Dóra Czigány
Defense3Dóra Antal
Centre Forward4Hanna Kisteleki
Defense5Gabriella Szűcs
Centre Back6Orsolya Takács
Defense7Rita Drávucz
Defense8Rita Keszthelyi
Centre Back9Ildikó Tóth
Centre Forward10Barbara Bujka
Centre Back11Dóra Csabai
Centre Back12Kata Menczinger
Goalkeeper13Edina Gangl
CoachAndrás Merész
5People's Republic of ChinaCHN
Goalkeeper1Yang Jun
Defense2Teng Fei
Centre Back3Liu Ping
Defense4Sun Yujun
Centre Forward5He Jin
Centre Forward6Sun Yating
Defense7Song Donglun
Defense8Gao Ao
Defense9Wang Yi
Defense10Ma Huanhuan
Defense11Sun Huizi
Defense12Zhang Lei
Goalkeeper13Wang Ying
CoachJuan Jané
6Russian FederationRUS
Goalkeeper1Mariya Kovtunovskaya
Defense2Nadezhda Glyzina-Fedotova
Defense3Yekaterina Prokofyeva
Centre Back4Sofya Konukh
Defense5Aleksandra Antonova
Defense6Olga Belova-Gorbunova
Defense7Yekaterina Pantyulina-Lisunova
Centre Back8Yevgeniya Soboleva
Centre Forward9Yekaterina Tankeyeva
Centre Forward10Olga Belyayeva
Defense11Yevgeniya Ivanova
Defense12Diana Antonova
Goalkeeper13Anna Karnaukh
CoachAleksandr Kabanov
7ItalyITA
Goalkeeper1Elena Gigli
Centre Back2Simona Abbate
Centre Forward3Elisa Casanova
Centre Back4Federica Radicchi
Centre Back5Anikó Pelle
Defense6Allegra Lapi
Defense7Tania Di Mario
Defense8Roberta Bianconi
Defense9Giulia Emmolo
Centre Back10Giulia Rambaldi
Defense11Aleksandra Cotti
Centre Forward12Teresa Frassinetti
Goalkeeper13Giulia Gorlero
CoachFabio Conti
8Great BritainGBR
Goalkeeper1Robyn Nicholls
Defense2Chloe Wilcox
Centre Back3Fiona McCann
Centre Back4Frankie Painter-Snell
Centre Back5Alex Rutlidge
Centre Forward6Fran Leighton
Centre Forward7Lisa Gibson
Centre Back8Hazel Musgrove
Defense9Ciara Gibson Byrne
Centre Forward10Angie Winstanley-Smith
Defense11Francesca Clayton
Defense12Beckie Kershaw
Goalkeeper13Rosie Morris
CoachSzilveszter Fekete

Preliminary Round

Date30 July – 3 August 2012

Group A

Date30 July – 3 August 2012
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1SpainESP210533-26Q
2United StatesUSA210530-28Q
3HungaryHUN102235-37Q
4People's Republic of ChinaCHN003022-29Q
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #130 Jul 14:10SpainESP11 – 6People's Republic of ChinaCHN
Match #230 Jul 19:40United StatesUSA14 – 13HungaryHUN
Match #301 Aug 14:10HungaryHUN11 – 10People's Republic of ChinaCHN
Match #401 Aug 18:20SpainESP9 – 9United StatesUSA
Match #503 Aug 14:10SpainESP13 – 11HungaryHUN
Match #603 Aug 19:40United StatesUSA7 – 6People's Republic of ChinaCHN

Group B

Date30 July – 3 August 2012
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosCompetitorsNOCWinsTiesLossesPointsGoals
1AustraliaAUS300637-19Q
2Russian FederationRUS201422-21Q
3ItalyITA102222-22Q
4Great BritainGBR003014-33Q
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #130 Jul 18:20Russian FederationRUS7 – 6Great BritainGBR
Match #230 Jul 15:30AustraliaAUS10 – 8ItalyITA
Match #301 Aug 19:40AustraliaAUS16 – 3Great BritainGBR
Match #401 Aug 15:30Russian FederationRUS7 – 4ItalyITA
Match #503 Aug 18:20ItalyITA10 – 5Great BritainGBR
Match #603 Aug 15:30AustraliaAUS11 – 8Russian FederationRUS

Quarter-Finals

Date5 August 2012
FormatWinners of each match advanced to semi-finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #105 Aug 16:10AustraliaAUS16 – 16People's Republic of ChinaCHN
Match #205 Aug 20:20SpainESP9 – 7Great BritainGBR
Match #305 Aug 19:00United StatesUSA9 – 6ItalyITA
Match #405 Aug 14:50HungaryHUN11 – 10Russian FederationRUS

Semi-Finals

Date7 August 2012
FormatWinners of each match advanced to finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #107 Aug 15:30United StatesUSA11 – 9AustraliaAUS
Match #207 Aug 19:40SpainESP10 – 9HungaryHUN

Classification Round 5-8

Date7 August 2012
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #107 Aug 14:10People's Republic of ChinaCHN14 – 10ItalyITA
Match #207 Aug 18:20Russian FederationRUS11 – 9Great BritainGBR

Final Round

Date9 August 2012
FormatClassification round.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match 1/209 Aug 20:25United StatesUSA8 – 5SpainESP
Match 3/409 Aug 18:40AustraliaAUS13 – 11HungaryHUN
Match 5/609 Aug 15:50People's Republic of ChinaCHN16 – 15Russian FederationRUS
Match 7/809 Aug 14:30ItalyITA11 – 7Great BritainGBR