Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Ten nations competed in water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.^[1][2]

Medallists

Results

For the team rosters see: Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads.

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.

Group A

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

Group B

28 November

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

29 November

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

30 November

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

Group C

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

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.

Championship

The most famous water polo match in history was the semi-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, riddled with penalties, and the pool was later depicted as turning red from the blood spilt. The Hungarians led the Soviets 4-0 before the game was called off in the final minute to prevent angry spectators, many of them Hungarian immigrants to Australia, reacting to Valentin Prokopov punching Ervin Zádor's eye open.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]} The Hungarians went on to win the gold medal by defeating Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final. Half of the Hungarian Olympic delegation defected after the Games.^{[11][12][13][14]}

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

Consolation

• Great Britain def. Singapore, 11-5
• Great Britain def. Australia, 5-2
• Romania def. Singapore, 15-1
• Great Britain def. Romania, 5-2
• Australia def. Singapore, 3-2
• Romania def. Australia, 4-2

See also

• Blood in the Water match

References

1. "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
2. "Water Polo at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
3. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
4. Simon Burnton (28 December 2011). "50 stunning Olympic moments No7: Hungary v Soviet Union: blood in the water". The Guardian.
5. "Cold War violence erupts at Melbourne Olympics". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 December 1956. Retrieved 24 March 2007.
6. Riot Narrowly Avoided at Olympic Pool, The Canberra Times, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.1
7. Olympic Games Peace Shattered: Fists Fly in Pool Fracas, The Argus, (Friday, 7 December 1956), pp.1,3.
8. Hungarian Injured in Polo, The Age, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.1.
9. Player Punched in Rough Water Polo, The Age, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.1.
10. That evening, a similar anti-Russian protest occurred during a fencing match between Hungarian Pál Kovács and Russian Lev Kuznetsov at the St Kilda Town Hall: Mr. Brundage hears crowd hoot Russian, The Argus, (Friday, 7 December 1956), p.14; Tireless Hungarian Takes Sabre Title: Appeal to Crowd, The Age, Friday, 7 December 1956), p.12.
11. Nine Hungarians Miss First Plane for Home, The Canberra Times, (Saturday, 8 December 1956), p.3.
12. Hungarians Stay Behind, The Age, (Monday, 10 December 1956), p.1.
13. 46 Hungarians Refuse to go Home, and . . . Security Men Guard "Village", The Argus, (Monday, 10 December 1956), p.3.
14. Security Guard for Hungarian Athletes, The Canberra Times, (Tuesday, 11 December 1956), p.3.

Sources

• PDF documents in the LA84 Foundation Digital Library:
  • Official Report of the 1956 Olympic Games (download, archive) (pp. 592–594, 624–627)
• Water polo on the Olympedia website
  • Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics (men's tournament)
• Water polo on the Sports Reference website
  • Water polo at the 1956 Summer Games (men's tournament) (archived)

External links

• International Olympic Committee medal database