The water polo venue is-you guessed it-the Water Polo Arena (pictured). This venue will see matches involving twenty teams-twelve men and eight women.
These are the 20 teams that will play in that building during the span of two weeks:
MEN
Group A
Greece (GRE)
Italy (ITA)
Kazakhstan (KAZ)
Spain (ESP)
Australia (AUS)
Croatia (CRO)
Group B
Hungary (HUN)
Montenegro (MNE)
Romania (ROU)
United States (USA)
Great Britain (GBR)
Serbia (SRB)
WOMEN
Group A
Hungary (HUN)
Spain (ESP)
China (CHN)
United States (USA)
Group B
Italy (ITA)
Great Britain (GBR)
Russia (RUS)
Australia (AUS)
With the Fina World Championships at Shanghai passing by, lots of momentum from such programs on the men's side as Serbia, Italy, Spain and a few others are carried over to the London Games.
Historically, the men's side has been dominated by Hungary. The Hungarian men won nine times in the Olympics, including the last three at Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. One of their more memorable games is the semifinal at Melbourne 1956, where they got through a tough Soviet squad and later defeated Yugoslavia to win gold (there is a documentary on that Hungary-Soviet game). Only Great Britain has won three straight in the Olympics, with wins at London 1908, Stockholm 1912 and Antwerp 1920. This could be historical for Hungary to win their fourth straight.
On the women's side, the Dutch is the defending Olympic champion at Beijing 2008, defeating the United States for gold. The USA, along with Italy, Spain and the Dutch are the favorites ever since the end of the water polo at the Fina World Championships in July.
Up next: a look at judo.
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