Water polo at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's water polo tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from 11 August to 21 August at the Ying Tung Natatorium.[1]

Women's water polo
at the XXIX Olympiad

Tournament details
Host country	China
Dates	11 – 21 August
Teams	8 (from 4 confederations)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Netherlands (1st title)
Runner-up	United States
Third place	Australia
Fourth place	Hungary
Tournament statistics
Matches	20
Goals scored	370 (18.5 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Daniëlle de Bruijn (17 goals)
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Teams from eight nations competed, seeded into two groups for the preliminary round. 20 games were played, 12 of them in the preliminary round (each team played the other teams in the group). Eight games were played in the final round.

Format

The tournament featured eight teams, separated into two groups of four teams.[2] Each team played the other three teams in its pool once in a round-robin format. The first-place team in each pool qualified directly for the semifinal, the second- and third-place teams moved on to the quarterfinal round, and the fourth-place teams played each other in a seventh place game.[3]

The winners of the quarterfinal games moved on to the semifinals to face the top teams from each pool, while the quarterfinal losers played a fifth place classification game. The semifinal winners played in the gold medal game, while the losers played each other for the bronze.[3]

Preliminary round

All times are CST (UTC+8).

Group A

	Qualified for SF
	Qualified for QF
	Will play for places 7th–8th

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	3	2	1	0	33	27	+6	5
Italy	3	2	1	0	28	26	+2	5
China	3	1	0	2	33	33	0	2
Russia	3	0	0	3	26	34	−8	0

11 August 2008 14:20	Report	Russia	8–9	Italy	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Gaetan Turcotte (CAN), Nikolaos Argyros (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 2–1, 2–3, 1–2
		Smurova 2	Goals	Miceli 2, di Mario 2

11 August 2008 17:00	Report	United States	12–11	China	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Gabor Kiszelly (HUN), Ahmet Erhan Tulga (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 5–4, 2–2, 2–2
		Golda 4, Craig 3, Hayes 2	Goals	Gao 3, Teng 2, Sun Yu. 2, Sun H. 2

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13 August 2008 15:40	Report	United States	9–9	Italy	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Alan Balfanbayev (KAZ), Gabor Kiszelly (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 0–2, 4–2, 2–2, 3–3
		Hayes 2, Villa 2	Goals	Miceli 2, di Mario 2

13 August 2008 17:00	Report	Russia	11–13	China	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Gaetan Turcotte (CAN), Torsten Bock (GER)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 5–4, 3–1, 1–5
		Pantyulina 3, Vylegzhanina 2	Goals	Sun Yu. 4, Gao 2, Sun H. 2

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15 August 2008 14:20	Report	Russia	7–12	United States	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Jaime Moliner Molins (ESP), Ahmet Erhan Tulga (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 0–5, 3–2, 2–4, 2–1
		Konukh 2, Turova 2	Goals	Golda 3, Villa 2, Gregorka 2

15 August 2008 17:00	Report	Italy	10–9	China	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Gabor Kiszelly (HUN), Boris Margeta (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 4–2, 2–4, 2–1
		Casanova 4, di Mario 3	Goals	Sun Ya. 3, Wang Yi 2, Qiao 2

Group B

	Qualified for SF
	Qualified for QF
	Will play for places 7th–8th

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Hungary	3	2	1	0	28	20	+8	5
Australia	3	2	1	0	25	22	+3	5
Netherlands	3	1	0	2	27	27	0	2
Greece	3	0	0	3	16	27	−11	0

11 August 2008 13:00	Report	Hungary	11–9	Netherlands	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Massimiliano Caputi (ITA), Radoslaw Piotr Koryzna (POL)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–2, 4–3, 1–1
		Pelle 4, Kisteleki 2, Stieber 2, Valkai 2	Goals	de Bruijn 4, van den Berg 3

11 August 2008 15:40	Report	Greece	6–8	Australia	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Decio Jr Patelli (BRA), Boris Margeta (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 2–5, 2–2, 1–1, 1–0
		Roumpesi 3, Liosi 2	Goals	Beadsworth 4, Gofers 2

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13 August 2008 13:00	Report	Hungary	7–7	Australia	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Mario Brguljan (MNE), Ahmet Erhan Tulga (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 1–1, 1–2, 4–3
		Drávucz 3, Pelle 2, Valkai 2	Goals	R. Rippon 2, B. Knox 2, M. Rippon 2

13 August 2008 14:20	Report	Greece	6–9	Netherlands	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Shiwei Ni (CHN), Decio Jr Patelli (BRA)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 2–2, 1–3, 0–1
		Liosi 2	Goals	Cabout 4, de Bruijn 2, van Belkum 2

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15 August 2008 13:00	Report	Netherlands	9–10	Australia	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Massimiliano Caputi (ITA), Gaetan Turcotte (CAN)
		Score by quarters: 1–2, 2–2, 1–2, 5–4
		van den Ham 3, van Belkum 2, Sijbring 2	Goals	B. Knox 4, Beadsworth 2, Gynther 2

15 August 2008 15:40	Report	Hungary	10–4	Greece	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Alan Balfanbayev (KAZ), Decio Jr Patelli (BRA)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 3–1, 3–0, 3–2
		Kisteleki 2, Stieber 2, Drávucz 2, Pelle 2	Goals	Gerolymou 1, Liosi 1, Roumpesi 1, Asimaki 1

Final rounds

Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Gold medal match

A1

United States

9

A3

China

11

B2

Australia

8

B2

Australia

12

United States

8

Netherlands

9

B1

Hungary

7

A2

Italy

11

B3

Netherlands

8

B3

Netherlands

13

5th–6th

Bronze medal match

5

China

10

Australia

12

6

Italy

7

4

Hungary

11

7th place match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

17 August 2008 13:00	Report	Russia	12–6	Greece	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Stephen Knights (NZL), Guy Pinker (RSA)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 4–1, 3–1, 2–2
		Shepelina 3, Konukh 3, Pantyulina 2, Belyaeva 2	Goals	Roumpesi 4

Quarterfinals

All times are CST (UTC+8).

17 August 2008 14:20	Report	China	11–12	Australia	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Decio Jr Patelli (BRA), Jaime Moliner Molins (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 4–4, 2–2, 2–4, 3–2
		Ma 3, Sun H. 2	Goals	Gynther 5, Cuffe 2, M. Rippon 2

17 August 2008 15:40	Report	Italy	11–13	Netherlands	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Torsten Bock (GER), Nikolaos Argyros (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 1–3, 3–2, 2–1  OT: 0–0, 0–0  PSO: 3-5
		Zanchi 4, Miceli 2, Bosurgi 2	Goals	Cabout 4, de Bruijn 3, Smit 2, van Belkum 2

5th place match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

19 August 2008 13:00	Report	China	10–7	Italy	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Ahmet Erhan Tulga (TUR), Gaetan Turcotte (CAN)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 2–3, 1–3, 4–0
		Gao 4, Sun H. 2	Goals	di Mario 3, Zanchi 2

Semifinals

All times are CST (UTC+8).

19 August 2008 14:20	Report	United States	9–8	Australia	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Massimiliano Caputi (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–2, 4–1, 1–3
		Villa 3 Hayes 2 Golda, Steffens, Gregorka, Craig 1	Goals	Gynther 3 R. Rippon 2 Beadsworth, Knox, M. Rippon 1

19 August 2008 15:40	Report	Hungary	7–8	Netherlands	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Mario Brguljan (MNE), Sergey Antsiferov (RUS)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 1–3, 3–3, 1–1
		Pelle 3 Drávucz, Primász 2	Goals	van den Ham, van Belkum 3 Cabout, Sijbring 1

Bronze medal match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

21 August 2008 17:00	Report	Australia	12–11	Hungary	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Sergey Antsiferov (RUS), Mladen Rak (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 1–3, 3–1, 1–1  OT: 2–1, 0–1  PSO: 3–2
		Knox, Gynther 3 Fraser 2 Beadsworth, R. Rippon, Santoromito, M. Rippon 1	Goals	Kisteleki 4 Valkai 3 Drávucz 2 Zantleitner, Pelle 1

Gold medal match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

21 August 2008 18:20	Report	United States	8–9	Netherlands	Ying Tung Natatorium, Beijing Referees: Gabor Kiszelly (HUN), Massimiliano Caputi (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–4, 3–1, 1–2, 2–2
		Steffens 2 Hayes, Villa, Golda, Gregorka, van Norman, Craig 1	Goals	de Bruijn 7 van Belkum, van den Ham 1

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

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

2008 Women's Olympic Champions  Netherlands First title

Medallists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Netherlands (NED)[1] Ilse van der Meijden Yasemin Smit Mieke Cabout Biurakn Hakhverdian Marieke van den Ham Daniëlle de Bruijn Iefke van Belkum Noeki Klein Gillian van den Berg Alette Sijbring Rianne Guichelaar Simone Koot Meike de Nooy Head coach: Robin van Galen	United States (USA) Elizabeth Armstrong Heather Petri Brittany Hayes Brenda Villa Lauren Wenger Natalie Golda Patty Cardenas Jessica Steffens Elsie Windes Alison Gregorka Moriah van Norman Kami Craig Jaime Hipp Head coach: Guy Baker	Australia (AUS) Emma Knox Gemma Beadsworth Nikita Cuffe Rebecca Rippon Suzie Fraser Bronwen Knox Taniele Gofers Kate Gynther Jenna Santoromito Mia Santoromito Melissa Rippon Amy Hetzel Alicia McCormack Head coach: Greg McFadden

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	GP	G
1	Daniëlle de Bruijn (NED)	6	17
2	Kate Gynther (AUS)	6	13
3	Bronwen Knox (AUS)	6	12
	Anikó Pelle (HUN)	5	12
5	Ao Gao (CHN)	5	11
6	Iefke van Belkum (NED)	6	10
	Mieke Cabout (NED)	6	10
	Rita Drávucz (HUN)	5	10
	Tania di Mario (ITA)	5	10
10	Gemma Beadsworth (AUS)	6	9
	Natalie Golda (USA)	5	9
	Marieke van den Ham (NED)	6	9
	Antigoni Roumpesi (GRE)	4	9
	Brenda Villa (USA)	5	9

Awards

Media All-Star Team[4]

• Goalkeeper
  • Patrícia Horváth (43 saves)
• Field players
  • Daniëlle de Bruijn (left-handed, 17 goals, 15 sprints won)
  • Elisa Casanova (left-handed, 7 goals)
  • Gao Ao (11 goals)
  • Bronwen Knox (12 goals)
  • Jessica Steffens (5 goals)
  • Ágnes Valkai (7 goals, 10 sprints won)

See also

• Water polo at the 2008 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. Beijing 2008 - Water Polo Women's Draw
3. "Water Polo Competition format and rules". Beijing 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-09-15.
4. "Olympic All Star Teams Announced; Send Your Congratulations To US Olympic Teams". usawaterpolo.org. USA Water Polo. 27 August 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2020.

Sources

• PDF documents in the LA84 Foundation Digital Library:
  • Official Results Book – 2008 Olympic Games – Water Polo (download, archive)
• Water polo on the Olympedia website
  • Water polo at the 2008 Summer Olympics (women's tournament)
• Water polo on the Sports Reference website
  • Water polo at the 2008 Summer Games (women's tournament) (archived)

External links

• Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics