Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ten nations competed in water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. The event was open only to men's teams.

Contents

[edit] Medallists

Gold: Silver: Bronze:
Hungary Hungary
Laszlo Jenei
Istvan Hevesi
Dezső Gyarmati
Kalman Markovics
Tivadar Kanizsa
Istvan Szivos
György KArpati
Otto Boros
Mihaly Mayer
Antal Bolvari
Ervin Zador		 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
Ivo Cipci
Tomislav Franjković
Vlado Ivković
Zdravko Jezić
Hrvoje Kačić
Zdravko Kovačić
Lovro Radonjić
Marijan Zuzej		 Soviet Union Soviet Union
Boris Goikhman
Valentin Prokopov
Yuri Shlyapin
Vyacheslav Kurennoi
Pyotr Breus
Pyotr Mshvenieradze
Boris Markarov
Mikhail Ryzhak
Viktor Ageev
Nodar Gvakhariya

[edit] Results

[edit] Preliminary round

The preliminary round consisted of a round-robin tournament held in three groups. Each team played the other teams in its group once.

[edit] Group A

Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points
Yugoslavia 3 3 0 0 15 5 6
Soviet Union 3 2 1 0 9 6 4
Romania 3 1 2 0 9 9 2
Australia 3 0 3 0 3 16 0

28 November

  • 14:00 - Romania def. Australia, 4-2
  • 19:30 - Yugoslavia def. Soviet Union, 3-2

29 November

  • 21:15 - Soviet Union def. Romania, 4-3
  • 22:15 - Yugoslavia def. Australia, 9-1

30 November

  • 10:30 - Yugoslavia def. Romania, 3-2
  • 16:00 - Soviet Union def. Australia, 3-0

[edit] Group B

Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points
Hungary 2 2 0 0 12 3 4
United States 2 1 1 0 7 9 2
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2 0 2 0 4 11 0

28 November

  • 20:30 - United States def. Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 5-3

29 November

  • 15:45 - Hungary def. Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 6-1

30 November

  • 11:30 - Hungary def. United States, 6-2

[edit] Group C

Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points
Italy 2 2 0 0 11 3 4
Germany 2 1 1 0 7 5 2
Singapore 2 0 2 0 2 12 0

28 November

  • 15:00 - Germany def. Singapore, 5-1

29 November

  • 16:45 - Italy def. Singapore, 7-1

30 November

  • 22:10 - Italy def. Germany, 4-2

[edit] Final round

The top two teams in each preliminary group advanced to the championship, in which they played each of the four other championship teams they had not previously faced. The results of the preliminary round game against the team from their group carried over into the final round.

The teams that did not advance to the championship played in a consolation tournament.

[edit] Championship

Main article: Blood In The Water match

The most famous water polo match in history might be the finals round match between Hungary and the Soviet Union. As the athletes left for the games, the Hungarian Revolution started and was crushed by the Soviet army. Many of the Hungarian athletes vowed never to return home and felt their only means of fighting back was in the pool.

With only two games left for each team, the Hungarians were leading in the standings, 1 point ahead of Yugoslavia and 2 ahead of the Soviets. A Soviet victory would have put them alongside the Hungarians in the standings, with the final match pairings favoring the Soviets, who would face the last-place Germans while Hungary had to compete with Yugoslavia. A Hungarian victory would ensure at least a silver medal for the team, with a draw or a win against Yugoslavia in the last game meaning gold.

The Hungary-Soviet Union confrontation was extremely bloody and violent, and the pool reputedly turned red from the blood spilt. The Hungarians lead the Soviets 4-0 before the game was called off in the final minute to prevent angry Hungarians in the crowd reacting to Valentin Prokopov punching Ervin Zador's eye open.

The Hungarians continued to win the championship by defeating Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final. Half of the Hungarian Olympic delegation defected after the games.

Rank Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points
1 Hungary 5 5 0 0 20 3 10
2 Yugoslavia 5 3 1 1 13 8 7
3 Soviet Union 5 3 2 0 14 14 6
4 Italy 5 2 3 0 10 13 4
5 United States 5 1 4 0 10 20 2
6 Germany 5 0 4 1 11 20 1

1 December

  • 14:40 - Soviet Union def. Italy, 3-2
  • 22:40 - Yugoslavia def. United States, 5-1

3 December

  • 16:50 - United States def. Germany, 4-3
  • 21:30 - Hungary def. Italy, 4-0

4 December

  • 15:40 - Yugoslavia tied Germany, 2-2
  • 21:00 - Italy def. United States, 3-2

5 December

  • 16:40 - Soviet Union def. United States, 3-1
  • 22:20 - Hungary def. Germany, 4-0

6 December

  • 15:25 - Hungary def. Soviet Union, 4-0
  • 21:55 - Yugoslavia def. Italy, 2-1

7 December

  • 14:00 - Soviet Union def. Germany, 6-4
  • 21:20 - Hungary def. Yugoslavia, 2-1

[edit] Consolation

Rank Nation Pld. Win Loss Tie GF GA Points
7 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 3 3 0 0 21 9 6
8 Romania 3 2 1 0 21 8 4
9 Australia 3 1 2 0 7 11 2
10 Singapore 3 0 3 0 8 29 0
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland def. Singapore, 11-5
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland def. Australia, 5-2
  • Romania def. Singapore, 15-1
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland def. Romania, 5-2
  • Australia def. Singapore, 3-2
  • Romania def. Australia, 4-2


Water polo at the Summer Olympics
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008
See also: List of Olympic medalists in water polo
Events at the 1956 Summer Olympics (Melbourne/Stockholm)
Athletics • Australian football (demonstration) • Baseball (demonstration) • Basketball • Boxing • Canoeing • Cycling • Diving • Equestrian • Fencing • Football • Gymnastics • Hockey • Modern pentathlon • Rowing • Sailing • Shooting • Swimming • Water polo • Weightlifting • Wrestling
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../w/a/t/Water_polo_at_the_1956_Summer_Olympics_60a2.html"