Australia’s men’s and women’s water polo teams will compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with competitions held at the Paris Aquatic Center from 27 July.
The Australian Stingers won a silver medal in water polo at the 2024 Paris Olympics, their fourth at the Summer Olympics following two bronze medals (Beijing 2008 and London 2012) and a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games. won a medal.
Meanwhile, the men’s team finished in 8th place at the competition in Paris. The Aussie Sharks’ best Olympic results are fifth place, achieved in Los Angeles in 1984 and London in 2012.
The Australian women’s water polo team defeated defending champions USA in the semi-finals to advance to the final. However, in a close match for the gold medal, Spain defeated the Stingers 11-9.
The Stingers finished fifth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Zoe Arancini, 32, led the Stingers in Paris in her third Summer Games appearance, while Keisha Gophers returned for her third Summer Games appearance.
The women’s water polo competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics consisted of 10 teams. Australia topped a group that included Tokyo bronze medalists Hungary, the Netherlands, Canada and the People’s Republic of China.
Meanwhile, the Aussie Sharks could not end their Olympic medal hopes. In the quarterfinals against the United States, they lost in a penalty shootout. However, the result was slightly better than 9th place at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Nathan Power, Blake Edwards, and his younger brother Lachy were the only players on the Paris Sharks team to return to the Olympics. The remaining 10 members of the team made their Olympic debut.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Water polo groups and teams
for men
Group A: Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, USA, Montenegro Group B: Australia, Serbia, France, Hungary, Spain, Japan
Women’s
Group A: Australia, Hungary, Canada, China, Netherlands Group B: France, Greece, Italy, USA, Spain
For the men’s water polo tournament at the Paris 2024 Games, 12 teams were divided into two groups of six teams each during the qualifying round robin stage. Similarly, the 10 women’s teams were also divided into two equal groups.
There were no ties in the qualifying rounds for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the case of games tied at the end of regular game time, the winner was determined by a penalty shootout.
Teams earn three points for each match won during regular playing time, and two points are awarded for wins in penalty shootouts. The team that lost in the penalty shootout was also awarded one point for this match.
The top four teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals for both men and women. The winners of the semi-finals competed for the gold medal, and the losers competed for the bronze medal.
The teams that lost in the quarterfinals participated in a tournament to determine the rankings from 5th to 8th place. The winners of the ranking battle competed for 5th to 6th place, and the losers competed for 7th to 8th place.
