Water Polo

At 6 feet 5 inches, Andrei Belofastov is a giant of a man—and a bridge between the Soviet Union’s glorious water polo past and the bright future of what is now a Russian-only endeavor. A member of the Unified Team that took bronze in the 1992 Barcelona Games, Belofastov spoke recently with Swimming ...

Aleksandr Kabanov, who struck Olympic gold in 1972 and 1980 as a player for the Soviet Union men’s water polo team and a pair of bronze medals as coach—in 1988 as an assistant with the USSR in the Seoul Olympics, then as head coach for Russia in the 2004 Athens Games—passed away Wednesday at the age...

A. E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young” is an English 101 staple. Employing a simple rhyming scheme, anyone can easily follow Housman’s poetical path, culminating in a four-stanza punch line: Now you will not swell the rout Of lads that wore their honors out, Runners whom renown outran And the n...

In yet another blow to the proud tradition of Hungarian water polo, Tibor Benedek, a three-time Olympic champion, European and world water polo champion, died Thursday at the age of 47, the result of pancreatic cancer. On Wednesday, Gyorgy Karpati, a four-time Olympian—including gold medals at the 1...

Gyorgy Karpati, a four-time Olympic medalist and three-time gold medalist, died Wednesday at age 84. The death was announced by the Association of Immortal Hungarian Athletes. No cause of death was listed. Karpati won gold medals for Hungary in 1952, 1956 and 1964. He also won a bronze medal at the ...

A new task force charged with ensuring zero tolerance of racism and expanding access to water polo for all – especially people of color, was announced today. Jointly commissioned by USA Water Polo Board Chair Mike Graff and CEO Chris Ramsey, the Racial Equity and Reform Task Force will be co-chaired...

Editor’s Note: In one of the seminal matches in Eastern water polo history, on November 13, 1977, Pittsburgh faced Bucknell at the Joseph C. Trees Pool for the Eastern Water Polo League Southern Division Championship. A rematch of the 1976 final, won 14-12 by Pitt, with less than a minute remaining ...

With his two-year contract with Pro Recco concluded, the career of Ratko Rudic, the most successful coach in water polo history, is over. Francesco Grillone, who edits the WaterPoloItaly.com site, reports that—as expected—the 72-year-old Rudic will retire as head coach for the Biancocelesti. After b...

Editor's Note: Following an illustrious career in international water polo, Ratko Rudic—the only man in history to coach four Olympic gold water polo medalists—has officially retired from the sport. In a statement translated from Italian, Pro Recco President Maurizio Felugo and Biancocelesti legend ...

It's now a common thread throughout intercollegiate sports: where were you when the novel coronavirus ended the NCAA spring season? As Adam Wright, NCAA men's and women's coach explains below, he and his Bruin women had recently returned to Los Angeles following a successful swing in the Bay Area. T...

Editor’s Note: In one of the seminal matches in Eastern water polo history, on November 13, 1977, Pittsburgh faced Bucknell at the Joseph C. Trees Pool for the Eastern Water Polo League Southern Division Championship. A rematch of the 1976 final, won 14-12 by Pitt, with less than a minute remaining ...

Earlier this week,  Sonoma State University, a Division II institution and a part of the 23-member California State University System, announced that it is dropping women's water polo from its athletic program effective at the end of the academic year. Chelsea Hennan, the team's head coach the past ...

As the coronavirus ravages the country, the human toll is easily traceable. Click on a link and find an up-to-the-minute count of COVID-19 victims. There’s also invisible consequences of this all-too-deadly virus. Fear will be the biggest legacy of the global pandemic, but as Steve Doten, commission...

Editor’s Note: In one of the seminal matches in Eastern water polo history, on November 13, 1977, Pittsburgh faced Bucknell at the Joseph C. Trees Pool for the Eastern Water Polo League Southern Division Championship. A rematch of the 1976 final, won 14-12 by Pitt, with less than a minute remaining ...

Editor’s Note: Given the devastation in Italy, Swimming World has taken particular interest in the circumstances surrounding aquatics sports in the European country hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis. Claudio Mangini, a well-respected journalist for Il Secolo XIX, spoke recently with the great Ra...

Marco Ercoli - “During work the fear disappears” International water polo referee Marco Ercoli is one of those unnamed heroes who are battling in the frontline of Covid-19 in terrible times. The Italian referee is working as a doctor in the Augusto Murri Hospital in the city of Fermo, living throug...

Giuliana Nicolosi - “As for the vaccine, we are not very close” Less than three months ago Giuliana Nicolosi whistled the women’s semi- final at the European Water Polo Championships in Budapest (Russia v Netherlands) and back then she didn’t think that the news coming from China on a new virus wou...

Earlier today, USA Water Polo announced a series of postponements for its age group and master level events, throwing into chaos the majority of American water polo competition at a time typically crammed with events that culminate with high-level competition during the summer months. In a statement...

USA Water Polo has announced a rescheduling of its 2020 calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic, with events aimed at restarting in August. It includes a restructuring of the National Junior Olympics. The 2020 Masters National Championships, originally scheduled for June 12-14, will be held in Oran...

ISHOF is sad to announce that Terry Sayring, the 2017 Paragon Award recipient for water polo, passed away on March 16, 2020, after a courageous battle against cancer. Terry was 81 years old. Sayring first became involved in water polo when, upon being discharged from the Marine Corp in California, h...