Water polo at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's tournament of water polo at the 2020 Summer Olympics at Tokyo, Japan was played from 24 July to 7 August 2021 at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center. It was the sixth appearance of the women's tournament, which had been held consecutively since 2000 and also was the first time on history that the tournament had 10 teams competing.

On 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.

The United States won their third consecutive and overall gold medal after a finals win over Spain, while Hungary captured the bronze medal, beating defending bronze medalists Russia.

The medals for the competition were presented by Samira Asghari, Afghanistan; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Dale Neuburger, United States; FINA Treasurer.

Schedule
The competition began on 24 July, and matches were held every other day. At each match time, two matches were played simultaneously (two during the preliminary round, two quarterfinals during that round, one main semifinal and one classification semifinal during the semifinal round, and the two classification games on the final day) except for the bronze and gold medal matches.

Competition format
The ten teams were seeded into two groups for a preliminary round and each group was played in a round-robin. The top four teams in each group advanced to the knockout round while the fifth placed teams and those ranked 9th and 10th based on win–loss record then goal average were eliminated. The knockout round began with quarterfinals, with the winners advanced to the semifinals, while the quarterfinal losers play in the fifth to eighth place classification semifinals. The two semifinal winners play in the gold medal match, while the two semifinal losers play in the bronze medal match.

Draw
The draw took place on 21 February 2021 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Seeding
The ten teams in the women's tournament were drawn into two groups of five teams. The teams were seeded into five pots.

Final draw
The hosts Japan and the reigning Olympic champion the United States were both drawn into Group B.

Referees
The following 28 referees were selected for the tournament.

24 referees:


 * 🇦🇷 Germán Moller
 * 🇦🇺 Nicola Johnson
 * 🇨🇦 Marie-Claude Deslières
 * 🇨🇳 Zhang Liang
 * Nenad Periš
 * 🇫🇷 Sébastien Dervieux
 * 🇩🇪 Frank Ohme
 * Georgios Stavridis
 * 🇭🇺 György Kun
 * 🇮🇹 Alessandro Severo
 * 🇯🇵 Asumi Tsuzaki
 * 🇰🇿 Viktor Salnichenko
 * 🇲🇪 Stanko Ivanovski
 * Michiel Zwart
 * 🇳🇿 John Waldow
 * 🇷🇴 Adrian Alexandrescu
 * 🇷🇺 Arkadiy Voevodin
 * 🇷🇸 Vojin Putniković
 * Jeremy Cheng
 * Dion Willis
 * 🇪🇸 Xevi Buch
 * Ursula Wengenroth
 * 🇺🇸 Michael Goldenberg
 * Daniel Daners

4 video assistant referees:


 * Mladen Rak
 * 🇰🇿 Alexandr Margolin
 * 🇰🇿 Alexandr Shershnev
 * 🇪🇸 Jaume Teixido

Group stage
The schedule was announced on 9 March 2021.

All times are local (UTC+9).

Group A


 

 

 

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Group B
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Bracket

 * 5th place bracket

Quarterfinals
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5–8th place semifinals
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Semifinals
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Seventh place game
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Fifth place game
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Bronze medal game
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Gold medal game
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Goals for
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)

Goals against
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Goal difference
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Saves
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Blocks
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)

Rebounds
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)

Steals
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)

Sprints won
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)

Turnovers
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)

Exclusions with substitution
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)

Multiple medalists
Three-time Olympic medalist(s): 2 players
 * : Melissa Seidemann, Maggie Steffens

Leading goalscorers
Source: Official Results Book (page 234)

Saves leaders
Source: Official Results Book (page 236)

Leading blockers
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Leading rebounders
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Steals leaders
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Leading sprinters
Source: Official Results Book (page 233)

Turnovers leaders
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Exclusions leaders
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)

Awards
The women's all-star team was announced on 7 August 2021.

Overall

 * Water Polo – Olympic Schedule & Results | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Olympic Reports | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Official Results Book | Tokyo 2020 Olympics (archive)
 * Water Polo – Tournament Summary | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Competition Officials | Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Tournament details

 * Water Polo – Competition Schedule | Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Statistics

 * Water Polo – Overall Team Statistics | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Team Statistics | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Individual Statistics | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Individual Statistics - Leading Scorers | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Goalkeeper Statistics | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Cumulative Statistics | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Australia, Canada, China, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, ROC, South Africa, Spain, United States

Medallists and victory ceremony presenters

 * Water Polo – Medallists | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
 * Water Polo – Victory Ceremony Presenters | Tokyo 2020 Olympics