Men's Water Polo Preview
The U.S. men’s water polo team qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games by merit of winning gold at the 2019 Pan American Games, and now it’s expected to bring one of the youngest teams in the world to Tokyo this summer.
Coming off a 10th-place finish at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, head coach Dejan Udovicic returns, along with team captain Jesse Smith, who is preparing for his USA Water Polo record-tying fifth Olympic Games. After Smith, however, no athlete on the U.S. team has taken part in more than one Olympic Games.
That doesn’t mean the U.S. lacks for quality experience, though. The national team has a core of players in some of the top professional leagues in Europe such as Alex Bowen, Luca Cupido and Alex Obert, all key members of Team USA since 2013. The U.S. also has an experienced Olympic head coach in Udovicic, who led his native Serbia to a bronze medal in 2012 before joining the U.S. program.
The men’s Olympic tournament consists of 12 teams with a group stage followed by a knockout round. Joining Team USA are host Japan, Serbia, Italy, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Greece and Montenegro. The U.S. will contest Group A against South Africa, Hungary, Greece, Japan and Italy.
Updated on June 16, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.