Jessica Gaudreault of Canada in action during the Hungary-Canada match on Tuesday July 29, 2024.CHEN YICHEN/Reuters
At every Olympics there are a handful of countries that excel in certain events; think of Kenya and Ethiopia in distance races. When it comes to water polo, few countries can match the passion or success of Hungary, where top players are treated like gods and the game has a long tradition.
Hungary’s dominance of the sport on the men’s side is unparalleled. The national team has won nine Olympic titles, more than twice as many as any other country, and it has collected 16 medals in total. The Hungarian women’s team isn’t as dominant, but it still claimed bronze at the Tokyo Games and finished second at the world championships in 2022 and 2024.
The Canadian women’s team got a lesson in Hungary’s power in its first match in Paris on Monday. Hungary jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter and went on to win 12-7.
“Obviously Hungary is one of the best teams in the world,” Canada’s captain Emma Wright said after the match. “We knew it’s a tough game, so we wanted to come out really strong and unfortunately we were a bit slow in the beginning which definitely hurt us.”
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Canada was lucky to even make it to Paris. The Canadians failed to qualify for the Games at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha last February. But Canada was awarded a spot after South Africa withdrew its men’s and women’s teams for financial reasons.
The preliminary round only eliminates two of the 10 teams in the tournament in Paris, so Canada still has a decent chance of getting to the knockout round. It next plays Wednesday against China, which has lost both of its matches so far.
The Canadian team is no slouch. This is the fourth Olympics for the women’s side and Canada won silver at the 2023 Pan American Games. But this tournament is really a contest between Hungary, a couple of other teams and the United States – which has won gold at the past three Olympics and captured a medal in every Games since women’s water polo was included in 2000.
The British invented water polo nearly 150 years ago, but the Hungarians perfected the game and took it to new heights.
Legendary coach Bela Komjadi revolutionized the sport in the 1920s by inventing the “dry pass” where the ball is thrown to another player without touching the water. Previously players would let the ball drop into the pool and then grab it. Komjadi’s technique made the game more dynamic, and the pass quickly became commonplace.
Krisztina Garda of Hungary celebrates after scoring a goal on Tuesday, July 29, 2024.Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
There have been other changes to speed up play, such as the 30-second shot clock, penalty shots and the “exclusion” of players who commit major fouls for 20 seconds.
Hungary played in one of the most famous matches of the Olympics, the so-called “blood in the water” game against the Soviet Union at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
The match took place a few weeks after Soviet troops crushed a student uprising in Budapest. The game was fierce, and violent, and in the dying minutes with Hungary ahead 4-0, Soviet player Valentin Prokopov slugged Hungary’s Ervin Zador in the face, causing him to bleed profusely. The game was called, and Australian police had to intervene to prevent players and fans from brawling. It still ranks as one of the most consequential matches in Hungary’s water-polo history.
Hungarians’ fascination with water polo comes largely from their love of water sports. The landlocked country is blessed with an abundance of hot springs, and, from a young age, children learn to swim and toss a water-polo ball.
“Everybody likes the water. Everybody likes swimming,” said Matyas Petrovics, a former player who coaches Ferencvarosi Torna Club in Budapest, which was founded in 1899. “And the traditions with swimming and water polo are the same.”
Petrovics said that, like a lot of Hungarian kids, he started out as a swimmer and quickly moved on to water polo. “There are many, many, junior teams in Hungary,” he added, adding that some leagues are for kids younger than 10 years old.
For elite players, the game stretches far beyond the Olympics. Most of the members of Hungary’s men’s and women’s teams are professionals and many compete in the top divisions of the country’s pro water-polo leagues (there are three divisions on the men’s side and two on the women’s).
Petrovics said that, while soccer is the most popular sport in Hungary, water polo ranks second alongside basketball and European handball.
He’s in Paris as a water-polo commentator for Hungarian television and while the country is hoping for one or two medals, he’s realistic about the chances.
“In men’s, we would like, and we want, the gold medal,” he said with a smile. But he added that there are at least five other teams capable of winning: Serbia, Italy, Greece, Croatia, and the United States. And on the women’s side? “Maybe it’s us at the top.”
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