WaterPolo

Rio Olympic 2016 | Watch Olympics Water Polo

Rio Olympic 2016 | Watch Olympics Water Polo

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) governs the rules and allows including 222 athletes, 156 men divided into 12 teams and 66 women divided into 6 teams, competing for 9 days. 

The w I aterpolo , is played in a swimming pool which the competing teams try to introduce a floating ball into goal posts at both ends of the playing area. Each team consists of 11 players, but only 7 may be in the water at the same time. 

For international competitions the pool should measure 20 meters wide by 30  meters  long, with a depth of 1.8  meters ; for the women ’s game dimensions are 17  meters  wide by 25  meters  long. 

The ball, which resembles soccer, is a sphere of highly inflated rubber, 68 to 71 centimeters in circumference and weighing 400-450 grams. The goals are rectangular structures made ​​of wood, metal or plastic, covered with a net and subject to the sides of the pool by bands that keep them afloat; measuring 30 centimeters deep, 3  meters  wide and 90 centimeters high on the water surface. 

The game was developed in Britain between 1869 and 1870 and polo was called because the first players were mounted in barrels that seemed horses and beat the ball with mallets. After water polo and football called water. In 1877 the Scotsman William Wilson drafted a set of rules that became the basis of international rules. The game follows the guidelines of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), since 1908. 

soon became popular in Europe and America and was first played in the Olympics in 1900. It was a strong sport in Europe, especially in Hungary, Italy, Spain, Germany, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Netherlands. It is also very popular in Oceania.  

Hungary has been the dominant country since the early 1930s, having won six times the Olympic Games and the European Championships on numerous occasions. The World Championship was first held in 1973, he won Hungary and the FINA World Cup in 1979, who also won Hungary. The first women ’s international water polo competition was held in 1978. The women ’s teams from the Netherlands are the strongest in Western Europe.