Tokyo 2020 Preview: Water Polo

21 years after the first water polo gold medal for Australia, the Aussie Stingers and Aussie Sharks will be looking for another golden performance at the Tokyo Olympics.

The water polo competition kicks off on Saturday 24 July, with the Aussie Stingers women’s team set to face Canada at 3.30pm local time (4.30pm AEST).

14 athletes (seven men and seven women) will make their Olympic debut, with Rhys Howden, Richie Campbell and Bronwen Knox set to equal the record for most Olympic games played by an Australian in water polo.

Ones to watch

Aussie Sharks Aaron Younger will captain the side at the Olympics for the first time, notching up his third Olympic Games for Australia (London 2012 and Rio 2016) and set to eclipse 200 test caps for his country. Younger is arguably one of the best players in the world, and currently plays professionally in Europe for Italian club Pro Recco. In 2021, Younger won his third LEN Champions League trophy - a feat only accomplished by a select few in the world.

He’ll be joined by stalwarts Rhys Howden and Richie Campbell who join only four other men to go to their fourth Olympic Games.  Triple Olympians Aidan ‘AJ’ Roach and goalkeeper Joel Dennerly will bolster the experience for the Sharks. 

Triple Olympian Rowie Webster will captain her side for the first time with Knox joining Webster as the experienced heads of the team.

Returning for their second Olympics Hannah Buckling, Keesja Gofers, Lea Yanitsas and Zoe Arancini will all be ones to watch, looking to expand on their Rio experience and help to lead the Aussie Stingers towards the podium.

The Sport

Water polo is a team sport between two teams, with seven players for each team in the water at a time. The game consists of four quarters, in which two teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team’s goal (1 point is awarded for each goal scored). The team with the most goals at the end of the game wins the match. If scores are level, the winner is decided by a penalty shootout.

Nations will go head to head in the pool stages, with the top four in each group progressing through to the finals.

The Aussie Sharks have been drawn in a pool alongside European powerhouses Montenegro and Croatia, as well as defending Olympic champions Serbia.

The Aussie Stingers will face Netherlands in the group stages, who will return to the Olympic stage for the first time since Beijing 2008, where they won gold.

What’s the story?

Water polo has a rich Olympic history in Australia, as the oldest team sport and 157 Olympians who have donned the green and gold cap so far. 

Three players will equal the record for most Olympic games attended by an Australian water polo athlete in Tokyo, with Aussie Sharks men Rhys Howden and Richie Campbell selected for their fourth games. Aussie Stingers Bron Knox will create history as the first Australian woman to play at four Olympic Games in water polo.

The Aussie Sharks boasts strong family connections, with two sets of brothers – Blake and Lachlan Edwards and George and Andrew Ford – making up more than a quarter of the squad.

Quick Facts

• The water polo competition will be held at Tatsumi Water Polo Centre from 24 July - 8 August

• Water polo is the longest standing team sport which Australia has participated in at the Olympics, starting in 2948

• Australia won the first ever water polo gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, with Yvette Higgins scoring the winnings goal with just 1.3 seconds on the clock

• Players can cover more than 3km in a single game

• Teams can only hold the ball for a maximum of 30 seconds, counted on a shot clock, or they lose possession