| Men's water polo at the Games of the III Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Water polo game during 1904 Summer Olympics. | ||||||||||
| Venue | U.S. Life Saving Exhibit Lake | |||||||||
| Date | September 5 (semifinal) September 6 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 21 from 1 nation | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
At the 1904 Summer Olympics, a water polo tournament was contested, with three club teams of seven players each.[1] A German team tried to enter, but its entry was refused because their players did not play for the same club.[2]
The event took place in an artificial lake in Forest Park, the location of both the Olympics and the World's Fair.[3] Two of the Olympians died of typhoid fever soon after the competition, possibly from contamination caused by livestock at the opposite end of the lake.[2][4][5]
Previously, the International Olympic Committee and International Swimming Federation (FINA) considered the water polo event at the 1904 Olympics as a demonstration sport.[1] However, in July 2021, after accepting the recommendation of Olympic historian Bill Mallon, the IOC recognized water polo along with several others as an official sport of the 1904 Olympic program.[6]
- ^ a b "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Water Polo at the 1904 Summer Olympics". olympedia.org. Olympedia. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ "Water Polo at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- ^ "David Bratton". Olympedia.com. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
- ^ "George Van Cleaf". Olympedia.com. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
- ^ "St. Louis 1904 Water Polo Men Results". IOC. Retrieved 31 January 2022.