The preliminary rounds of the water polo tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games has been confirmed for the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, organizers have announced, making the newly-renovated open-air venue one of the busiest throughout the games.
Organizers originally planned to host the preliminary pool-play matches in the Julio De
Lamare Aquatics Center, located next to the main Maracanã Stadium that will host the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. A review of the Games project with the IOC last May, however, altered that plan.
Organizers also were considering the Deodoro Aquatics Centre, which will host the swimming portion of the modern pentathlon competition, but ultimately decided that they would make it fit within the schedule of Maria Lenk to keep the event better clustered. All aquatic events now reside in the Barra Olympic Park, which is the main venue cluster of the Olympic Games.
“With three sports at the Maria Lenk, we are optimising our financial, planning and operational resources in one place, in addition to offering the spectator a better experience, with a concentration of the aquatic sports,” said Rio 2016 executive sport director Agberto Guimarães.
This is one of several moves in recent months designed, at least in part, to reduce the costs of the games as unfavorable economic conditions have left Brazil financially challenged. This one will be met with less opposition than previous announcements to not have any TVs in the athletes village or the plan to make federations pay for their own air conditioning (a decision that has since been reversed).
After pool play is completed, the knockout stages of the Olympic tournament for both men and women will move to the Olympic Aquatics Centre – which will then be vacated as pool swimming will be completed.
Diving (7-20 August) and synchronised swimming (14-19 August) are both scheduled to take place in Maria Lenkas well. Water polo is set for August 6th-20th.
All but 4 participating teams for each gender have been determined already with the completion of last week’s European Championships. The remaining teams will be determined in March (women) and April (men) at the African Continental Selection and World Qualification Tournament.
Men’s tournament
| Qualification | Date | Host | Berths | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 2 October 2009 |  Copenhagen |
1 |  Brazil |
| 2015 FINA World League | 23–28 June 2015 |  Bergamo |
1 |  Serbia |
| 2015 Pan American Games | 7–15 July 2015 |  Toronto |
1 |  United States |
| 2015 FINA World Championships | 27 July – 8 August 2015 |  Kazan |
2 |  Croatia |
 Greece |
||||
| Oceanian Continental Selection | 19 October 2015 |  Perth |
1 | Australia[2] |
| 2015 Asian Championships | 16–20 December 2015 |  Foshan |
1 |  Japan |
| 2016 European Championships | 10–23 January 2016 | Belgrade |
1 |  Montenegro |
| African Continental Selection | 3–10 April 2016 | TBD | 1 | |
| World Qualification Tournament | Trieste |
3 | ||
| Total | 12 | |||
Women’s tournament
| Qualification | Date | Host | Berths | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 2 October 2009 | Copenhagen |
1 | Brazil |
| Oceanian Continental Selection | 19 October 2015 | Perth |
1 | Australia[2] |
| 2015 Asian Championships | 16–17 December 2015 | Foshan |
1 | China |
| 2016 European Championships | 10–22 January 2016 | Belgrade |
1 |  Hungary |
| African Continental Selection | 21–28 March 2016 | TBD | 1 | |
| World Qualification Tournament |  Gouda |
3 | ||
| Total | 8 | |||
