Water polo at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's tournament of Water polo at the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, began on 9 August and ended on 19 August 2016.[1] Games were held at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center and the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Women's water polo
at the XXXI Olympiad

Tournament details
Host country	Brazil
City	Rio de Janeiro
Venue(s)	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Olympic Aquatics Stadium
Dates	9 August 2016– 19 August 2016
No. of teams	8 (from 4 confederations)
No. of venues	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	United States (2nd title)
Runners-up	Italy
Third place	Russia
Fourth place	Hungary
Tournament statistics
Matches played	24
Goals scored	435 (18.13 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Maggie Steffens (17 goals)
Most saves	Giulia Gorlero (65 saves)
Top sprinter(s)	Rachel Fattal (17 sprints won)
Tournament awards
MVP	Maggie Steffens

The United States won the gold medal by defeating Italy 12–5 in the final. Russia captured bronze, beating Hungary 19–18.[2]

Competition schedule

G	Group stage	QF	Quarter-finals	SF	Semi-finals	B	Bronze medal match	F	Final

Tue 9	Wed 10	Thu 11	Fri 12	Sat 13	Sun 14	Mon 15	Tue 16	Wed 17	Thu 18	Fri 19
G		G		G		QF		SF		B	F

Qualification

Qualification	Date	Host	Berths	Qualified
Host nation	2 October 2009	Copenhagen	1	Brazil
Oceanian Continental Selection[3]	19 October 2015	Perth	1	Australia
2015 Asian Championship	16–17 December 2015	Foshan	1	China
2016 European Championships	10–22 January 2016	Belgrade	1	Hungary
World Qualification Tournament	21–28 March 2016	Gouda	4	United States
				Italy
				Russia
				Spain
Total			8

Draw

The draw was held on 10 April 2016.[4]

Teams from eight nations compete in the tournament and were seeded into two groups for the preliminary round.

Seeding

The seeding was announced on 10 April 2016.[5]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Hungary  Australia	United States  Italy	Russia  China	Spain  Brazil

Referees

The following referees were selected for the tournament.[6]

• German Moller
• Daniel Flahive
• Mark Koganov
• Fabio Toffoli
• Marie-Claude Deslières
• Ni Shi Wei
• Nenad Peris
• Hatem Gaber
• Benjamin Mercier
• Georgios Stavridis
• Péter Molnár
• Masoud Rezvani
• Fillippo Gomez
• Tadao Tahara
• Stanko Ivanovski
• Diana Dutilh-Dumas
• Radosław Koryzna
• Adrian Alexandrescu
• Sergey Naumov
• Vojin Putniković
• Boris Margeta
• Dion Willis
• Francesc Buch
• Joseph Peila

Preliminary round

Group A

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	3	0	0	27	15	+12	6	Quarter-finals
2	Australia	3	2	0	1	31	15	+16	4
3	Russia	3	1	0	2	23	31	−8	2
4	Brazil (H)	3	0	0	3	13	33	−20	0

Source: Rio2016
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference.
(H) Host.

9 August 2016 10:20	Report	Italy	9–3	Brazil	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Diana Dutilh-Dumas (NED), Dion Willis (RSA)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 2–0, 3–0, 3–2
		Bianconi 3	Goals	three players 1

9 August 2016 13:00	Report	Russia	4–14	Australia	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 0–3, 1–5, 3–2, 0–4
		Prokofyeva 2	Goals	Southern 4

---

11 August 2016 09:00	Report	Russia	14–7	Brazil	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Diana Dutilh-Dumas (NED), Tadao Tahara (JPN)
		Score by quarters: 2–4, 2–0, 4–2, 6–1
		Ivanova, Prokofyeva 3	Goals	Chiappini 4

11 August 2016 10:20	Report	Italy	8–7	Australia	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees:  Péter Molnár (HUN), Boris Margeta (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 0–1, 2–3, 2–1
		Garibotti 3	Goals	Southern, Webster 2

---

13 August 2016 10:20	Report	Russia	5–10	Italy	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Joseph Peila (USA), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 1–2, 1–3, 1–2
		Grineva 2	Goals	Bianconi 3

13 August 2016 11:40	Report	Australia	10–3	Brazil	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Dion Willis (RSA), Benjamin Mercier (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 4–1, 2–0, 3–1
		Gofers, Webster 2	Goals	three players 3

Group B

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	0	34	14	+20	6	Quarter-finals
2	Spain	3	2	0	1	27	29	−2	4
3	Hungary	3	1	0	2	29	33	−4	2
4	China	3	0	0	3	23	37	−14	0

Source: Rio2016
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference.

9 August 2016 09:00	Report	China	11–13	Hungary	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Nenad Peris (CRO), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 4–4, 3–6, 2–1
		Ma Huanhuan, Niu Guannan 3	Goals	Czigány 4

9 August 2016 11:40	Report	Spain	4–11	United States	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Daniel Flahive (AUS), Filippo Gomez (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 1–3, 2–2, 0–2
		García 2	Goals	three players 2

---

11 August 2016 11:40	Report	China	4–12	United States	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Radosław Koryzna (POL), Filippo Gomez (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 0–3, 2–3, 1–2
		four players 1	Goals	Musselman, Steffens 4

11 August 2016 13:00	Report	Spain	11–10	Hungary	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 4–4, 4–1, 1–3
		five players 2	Goals	Bujka 5

---

13 August 2016 09:00	Report	China	8–12	Spain	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), German Moller (ARG)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 4–4, 1–2, 1–3
		Zhang Cong 3	Goals	López 4

13 August 2016 13:00	Report	Hungary	6–11	United States	Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Diana Dutilh-Dumas (NED)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 1–5, 1–1, 2–3
		Szűcs 2	Goals	Steffens 4

Final round

Final Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Gold medal match

A1

Italy

12

B4

China

7

A3

Russia

9

A1

Italy

12

A3

Russia

12

B2

Spain

10

United States

12

Italy

5

A2

Australia

11

B3

Hungary

13

B3

Hungary

10

Bronze medal match

B1

United States

14

A4

Brazil

3

4

Hungary

18

B1

United States

13

Russia

19

5th place bracket

	5th–8th place classification				5th place match
	Australia	11
	Brazil	4
					Australia	10
					Spain	12
	Spain	11
	China	6
					7th place match
					Brazil	5
					China	10

Quarterfinals

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

15 August 2016 14:10	Report	Brazil	3–13	United States	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Diana Dutilh-Dumas (NED), Tadao Tahara (JPN)
		Score by quarters: 0–5, 0–3, 0–5, 3–0
		three players 1	Goals	four players 2

15 August 2016 15:30	Report	Australia	11–13	Hungary	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Francesc Buch (ESP), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 2–2, 3–2, 2–1  PSO: 3–5
		Southern 3	Goals	Bujka, Keszthelyi 2

15 August 2016 18:20	Report	Russia	12–10	Spain	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Nenad Peris (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–2, 5–3, 2–2
		Fedotova 4	Goals	López, Tarragó 3

15 August 2016 19:40	Report	Italy	12–7	China	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 3–1, 4–2, 4–3
		Bianconi 3	Goals	Zhang Cong 3

5th–8th place classification

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

17 August 2016 11:00	Report	Australia	11–4	Brazil	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Ni Shi Wei (CHN), Marie Deslières (CAN)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 3–1, 4–1, 2–1
		Arancini, Southern 3	Goals	Chiappini 2

17 August 2016 15:10	Report	Spain	11–6	China	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Radosław Koryzna (POL), Fabio Toffoli (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–0, 4–2, 3–2
		five players 2	Goals	Ma Huanhuan 2

Semifinals

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

17 August 2016 12:20	Report	Russia	9–12	Italy	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Mark Koganov (AZE), Francesc Buch (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–4, 0–2, 5–4
		Ivanova, Lisunova 2	Goals	Garibotti 5

17 August 2016 16:30	Report	Hungary	10–14	United States	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Daniel Flahive (AUS), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–5, 3–4, 2–2
		Keszthelyi 4	Goals	Steffens 4

7th place match

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

19 August 2016 10:00	Report	Brazil	5–10	China	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Daniel Flahive (AUS), Nenad Peris (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 0–2, 0–2, 3–4
		Chiappini 3	Goals	three players 2

5th place match

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

19 August 2016 14:10	Report	Australia	10–12	Spain	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Marie-Claude Deslières (CAN), Sergey Naumov (RUS)
		Score by quarters: 5–4, 2–3, 1–3, 2–2
		Buckling 3	Goals	Tarragó 7

Bronze medal match

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

19 August 2016 11:20	Report	Hungary	18–19	Russia	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Diana Dutilh-Dumas (NED), Fillippo Gomez (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–4, 3–1, 3–4  PSO: 6–7
		Bujka 3	Goals	Fedotova 5

Gold medal match

All times are BRT (UTC-3).

19 August 2016 15:30	Report	United States	12–5	Italy	Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Francesc Buch (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 1–2, 4–1, 3–1
		Neushul 3 M. Fischer, Fattal 2 Musselman, Steffens, Seidemann, Mathewson, Craig 1	Goals	Radicchi 2 Di Mario 1 Bianconi 1 Emmolo 1

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Rank[1] Team  United States  Italy  Russia 4  Hungary 5  Spain 6  Australia 7  China 8  Brazil

2016 Women's Olympic Champions  United States Second title

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States (USA)[1] Samantha Hill Maddie Musselman Melissa Seidemann Rachel Fattal Caroline Clark Maggie Steffens Courtney Mathewson Kiley Neushul Aria Fischer Kaleigh Gilchrist Makenzie Fischer Kami Craig Ashleigh Johnson Head coach: Adam Krikorian	Italy (ITA) Giulia Gorlero Chiara Tabani Arianna Garibotti Elisa Queirolo Federica Radicchi Rosaria Aiello Tania Di Mario Roberta Bianconi Giulia Enrica Emmolo Francesca Pomeri Aleksandra Cotti Teresa Frassinetti Laura Teani Head coach: Fabio Conti	Russia (RUS) Anna Ustyukhina Maria Borisova Ekaterina Prokofyeva Elvina Karimova Nadezhda Fedotova Olga Belova Ekaterina Lisunova Anastasia Simanovich Anna Timofeeva Evgenia Soboleva Evgeniya Ivanova Anna Grineva Anna Karnaukh Head coach: Alexandr Gaidukov

Top goalscorers Rank Name Goals Shots % 1 Maggie Steffens 17 24 71 2 Barbara Bujka 15 23 65 Roser Tarragó 35 43 4 Ashleigh Southern 14 36 39 Rita Keszthelyi 36 39 6 Roberta Bianconi 13 33 39 Nadezhda Fedotova 27 48 8 Izabella Chiappini 12 49 25 Arianna Garibotti 28 43 Madeline Musselmann 25 48 Source: Rio2016

Top goalkeepers Rank Name % Saves Shots 1 Ashleigh Johnson 65 51 79 2 Giulia Gorlero 61 65 106 3 Samantha Hill 60 6 10 4 Lea Yanitsas 59 27 46 5 Tess Oliveira 49 34 69 6 Kelsey Wakefield 47 18 38 7 Yang Jun 47 55 118 8 Laura Ester 44 41 94 9 Orsolya Kasó 42 27 64 10 Victória Chamorro 42 23 55 Source: Rio2016

Awards

The women's all-star team was announced on 19 August 2016.[7]

Most Valuable Player

• Maggie Steffens[8] (17 goals, 1 sprints won)

Media All-Star Team

• Goalkeeper
  • Ashleigh Johnson (51 saves)
• Field players
  • Barbara Bujka (centre forward, left-handed, 15 goals)
  • Arianna Garibotti (12 goals)
  • Rita Keszthelyi (14 goals, 10 sprints won)
  • Maddie Musselman (12 goals)
  • Ashleigh Southern (14 goals)
  • Maggie Steffens (17 goals, 1 sprints won)

See also

• Water polo at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

References

1. "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. p. 56. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
2. "Water Polo, Women's final and bronze matches - US retain title, their reign is unchallenged". fina.org. 19 August 2016.
3. "Breakdown of anticipated athletes by sport". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
4. "WP Olympic Games Qualification Tournament is ready". federnuoto.it. 1 April 2016.
5. "RIO 2016 - Water polo - Teams & Groups". fina.org. 10 April 2016.
6. Referees
7. "Rio 2016: Egyesült Államok ismét a csúcson; két magyar az álomcsapatban". waterpolo.hu (in Hungarian). Hungarian Water Polo Federation. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
8. "Maggie STEFFENS Steffens". fina.org. FINA. Retrieved 16 December 2020.

Sources

• PDF documents in the Olympic World Library:
  • Official Results Book – 2016 Olympic Games – Water Polo (archive)
• Water polo on the Olympedia website
  • Water polo at the 2016 Summer Olympics (women's tournament)
• Water polo on the Sports Reference website
  • Water polo at the 2016 Summer Games (women's tournament) (archived)