The women's tournament of water polo at the 2020 Summer Olympics at Tokyo, Japan was played from 24 July to 7 August 2021 at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center. It was the sixth appearance of the women's tournament, which had been held consecutively since 2000 and also was the first time on history that the tournament had 10 teams competing.
On 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.
The United States won their third consecutive and overall gold medal after a finals win over Spain, while Hungary captured the bronze medal, beating defending bronze medalists Russia.
The medals for the competition were presented by Samira Asghari, Afghanistan; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Dale Neuburger, United States; FINA Treasurer.
Qualification
Schedule
The competition began on 24 July, and matches were held every other day. At each match time, two matches were played simultaneously (two during the preliminary round, two quarterfinals during that round, one main semifinal and one classification semifinal during the semifinal round, and the two classification games on the final day) except for the bronze and gold medal matches.
Competition format
The ten teams were seeded into two groups for a preliminary round and each group was played in a round-robin. The top four teams in each group advanced to the knockout round while the fifth placed teams and those ranked 9th and 10th based on win–loss record then goal average were eliminated. The knockout round began with quarterfinals, with the winners advanced to the semifinals, while the quarterfinal losers play in the fifth to eighth place classification semifinals. The two semifinal winners play in the gold medal match, while the two semifinal losers play in the bronze medal match.
Draw
The draw took place on 21 February 2021 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Seeding
The ten teams in the women's tournament were drawn into two groups of five teams. The teams were seeded into five pots.
Final draw
The hosts Japan and the reigning Olympic champion the United States were both drawn into Group B.
Referees
The following 28 referees were selected for the tournament.
24 referees:
Germán Moller
Nicola Johnson
Marie-Claude Deslières
Zhang Liang
Nenad Periš
Sébastien Dervieux
Frank Ohme
Georgios Stavridis
György Kun
Alessandro Severo
Asumi Tsuzaki
Viktor Salnichenko
Stanko Ivanovski
Michiel Zwart
John Waldow
Adrian Alexandrescu
Arkadiy Voevodin
Vojin Putniković
Jeremy Cheng
Dion Willis
Xevi Buch
Ursula Wengenroth
Michael Goldenberg
Daniel Daners
4 video assistant referees:
Mladen Rak
Alexandr Margolin
Alexandr Shershnev
Jaume Teixido
Group stage
The schedule was announced on 9 March 2021.
All times are local (UTC+9).
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage
Bracket
5th place bracket
Quarterfinals
5–8th place semifinals
Semifinals
Seventh place game
Fifth place game
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Final ranking
Medalists
Team statistics
Goals for
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)
Goals against
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)
Goal difference
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)
Saves
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)
Blocks
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)
Rebounds
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)
Steals
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)
Sprints won
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)
Turnovers
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)
Exclusions with substitution
Source: Official Results Book (page 224)
Player statistics
Multiple medalists
Three-time Olympic medalist(s): 2 players
: Melissa Seidemann, Maggie Steffens
Leading goalscorers
Source: Official Results Book (page 234)
Saves leaders
Source: Official Results Book (page 236)
Leading blockers
Source: Official Results Book (pages 239, 243, 247, 251, 255, 258, 262, 266, 269, 273)