Water polo at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Water polo
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Water polo; at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Venues	Francisco Márquez Olympic Pool
Date	14–26 October 1968
Competitors	162 from 15 nations
Medalists
	← 1964 1972 →

The water polo tournament at the 1968 Summer Olympics was held from 14 to 25 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico.^[1]^[2]

Qualification

Event	Dates	Hosts	Quotas	Qualified teams^[3]
Host Nation	18 October 1963	Baden-Baden	1	Mexico
1964 Summer Olympics	11-18 October 1964	Tokyo	6 5	Hungary Yugoslavia Soviet Union Italy ~~Romania~~ East Germany
1967 Pan American Games	26 July - 1 August 1967	Winnipeg	3	United States Brazil Cuba
European Qualifier	3-8 June 1968	Milan	3	West Germany Netherlands Spain
Oceania Qualifier			1	~~Australia~~
Asian Qualifier			1	Japan
African Qualifier			1	Egypt
Reallocation			1	Greece
Total			16 15

Groups

GROUP A

GROUP B

While Australia had been accepted as one of the 16 teams, the Australian Olympic Committee, considering it a waste of money to send a team, did not endorse them. The players responded by paying their own way to travel to Mexico City, but after the AOC informed the organisers, the team were barred from competing.^[4]

Squads

Preliminary round

Group A

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Hungary	12	6	6	0	0	39	14	+25
2.	Soviet Union	10	6	5	0	1	43	18	+25
3.	United States	7	6	3	1	2	37	36	+1
4.	Cuba	7	6	3	1	2	31	35	–4
5.	West Germany	4	6	2	0	4	33	34	–1
6.	Spain	1	6	0	1	5	20	37	–17
7.	Brazil	1	6	0	1	5	22	51	–29

14 October 1968


United States	10 – 5	Brazil
Soviet Union	11 – 4	Cuba
West Germany	5 – 3	Spain

15 October 1968


Cuba	9 – 2	Brazil

16 October 1968


Hungary	6 – 4	West Germany
United States	10 – 7	Spain

17 October 1968


Soviet Union	6 – 3	West Germany
Cuba	6 – 6	United States
Hungary	7 – 1	Spain

19 October 1968


Soviet Union	5 – 0	Spain
Hungary	5 – 1	United States
West Germany	10 – 5	Brazil

20 October 1968


Cuba	7 – 6	West Germany
Spain	6 – 6	Brazil
Hungary	6 – 5	Soviet Union

21 October 1968


Cuba	4 – 3	Spain
Soviet Union	8 – 3	United States
Hungary	8 – 2	Brazil

22 October 1968


Soviet Union	8 – 2	Brazil
United States	7 – 5	West Germany
Hungary	7 – 1	Cuba

Group B

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Italy	13	7	6	1	0	48	21	+27
2.	Yugoslavia	11	7	5	1	1	65	18	+47
3.	East Germany	11	7	5	1	1	66	22	+44
4.	Netherlands	9	7	4	1	2	42	28	+14
5.	Japan	6	7	3	0	4	26	57	–31
6.	Mexico	3	7	1	1	5	27	56	–29
7.	Greece	2	7	1	0	6	34	62	–28
8.	Egypt	1	7	0	1	6	21	65	–44

14 October 1968


Netherlands	9 – 5	Greece
Yugoslavia	13 – 2	Egypt
Italy	9 – 2	Japan
Mexico	4 – 12	East Germany

15 October 1968


Japan	8 – 7	Greece
Italy	10 – 1	Egypt
East Germany	4 – 4	Yugoslavia

16 October 1968


Mexico	1 – 8	Netherlands
Greece	7 – 6	Egypt
Italy	5 – 4	East Germany

17 October 1968


Mexico	0 – 9	Yugoslavia
Netherlands	9 – 1	Japan

19 October 1968


East Germany	11 – 4	Greece
Japan	7 – 4	Egypt
Mexico	5 – 10	Italy
Yugoslavia	7 – 4	Netherlands

20 October 1968


Italy	5 – 4	Yugoslavia
East Germany	8 – 0	Japan
Mexico	11 – 8	Greece
Netherlands	6 – 3	Egypt

21 October 1968


Mexico	3 – 6	Japan
Yugoslavia	11 – 1	Greece
Netherlands	3 – 3	Italy
East Germany	19 – 2	Egypt

22 October 1968


Mexico	3 – 3	Egypt
Italy	6 – 2	Greece
East Germany	8 – 3	Netherlands
Yugoslavia	17 – 2	Japan

Classification round

24 October 1968 — 13th/15th place


Brazil	5 – 3	Egypt

24 October 1968 — 9th/12th place


Mexico	3 – 6	West Germany
Spain	5 – 0	Japan

24 October 1968 — 5th/8th place


East Germany	8 – 2	Cuba
United States	6 – 3	Netherlands

24 October 1968 — Semi Finals


Yugoslavia	8 – 6	Hungary
Soviet Union	8 – 5	Italy

Final round

25 October 1968 — 13th place


Brazil	5 – 2	Greece

25 October 1968 — 11th place


Mexico	5 – 4	Japan

25 October 1968 — 9th place


Spain	7 – 5	West Germany

25 October 1968 — 7th place


Netherlands	8 – 5	Cuba

25 October 1968 — 5th place


United States	6 – 4	East Germany

25 October 1968 — Bronze Medal Match


Hungary	9 – 4	Italy

25 October 1968 — Gold Medal Match


Yugoslavia	13 – 11 [aet]	Soviet Union

Final ranking

Rank^[1]	Team
	Yugoslavia
	Soviet Union
	Hungary
4.	Italy
5.	United States
6.	East Germany
7.	Netherlands
8.	Cuba
9.	Spain
10.	West Germany
11.	Mexico
12.	Japan
13.	Brazil
14.	Greece
15.	Egypt

1968 Men's Olympic Games winners
Yugoslavia First title

Medallists

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "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.
^ "Water Polo at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
^ "Men Water Polo Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City". Todor66.
^ Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book To The Olympics. England: Penguin Books. p. 425. ISBN 0140066322.