Water Polo

Water polo desperately needs to be made into a video game. It seems like the coolest sport to never get its own game. It’s got elements of hockey, basketball, soccer, and of course swimming. Such an exciting sport, which usually gets the shaft when it comes to NBC’s coverage – even though the Americans often do well.

Tokyo 2020 results:

Medal	Men’s
Gold	Serbia
Silver	Greece
Bronze	Hungary
Medal	Women’s
Gold	United States
Silver	Spain
Bronze	Hungary

Outlook (as of June 21, 2023):

The U.S. men came in sixth at the World Aquatics Championships in 2022. Despite that, they had the tournament’s leading scorer in Alex Bowen, with 21 goals. Is that enough for me to project them into the top three? Not yet. We’ll see how the championships go in July.

As for the women, the United States has to be the favorites, given their gold medal in Tokyo and four straight world championships. But you know how these events go. One bad day, and you’re playing for bronze. So, this is going to be one of those “have to have” gold medals for the medal race. I say they get it, but it’s going to be a fight.

Update (June 25, 2024):

Croatia, Italy, and Spain finished at the top of the men’s World Aquatics Championships, so I see no need to alter my medal projections there. But in the women’s championships, the United States had only a 5th-place finish, prompting me to drop them out of the gold medal spot and award that one to the world champions from the Netherlands. There are probably at least five teams with a shot at the gold medal, including the USA, so this is one that’s going to be hard to predict.

Projections:

Medal	Men’s
Gold	Spain
Silver	Italy
Bronze	Croatia
Medal	Women’s
Gold	Netherlands
Silver	Italy
Bronze	United States

Projected medal count:

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Netherlands	1	0	0	1
Spain	1	0	0	1
Italy	0	2	0	2
Croatia	0	0	1	1
United States	0	0	1	1