Water Polo

We woke up Friday morning without any plans for the day. We were thinking of going to a museum or the ruins of the old Summer Palace, but I decided to check online to see if there were any tickets available for that day before we left. I was able to find tickets to see swimming in the evening at the Water Cube which were more expensive than most of the tickets but not too expensive. I was also able to find tickets to Water Polo in the afternoon. Water Polo turned out to be one of my favorite events. I didn't know much about the rules before we went, but I learned a lot watching. It seems to combine rules from a lot of different sports all in one.

Here is a full pool shot.

Each match started with the ball held in the center. As the swimmers swam toward the ball, the red ring would retract under the surface.

It was amazing how they could swim across the pool and keep the ball with them the whole time. They are amazing athletes.

Our tickets included 4 games. The first was The Netherlands vs. Australia. We arrived about halfway through the game after traveling across town to pick up our tickets. Australia beat The Netherlands 10-9.

The second game was USA vs. Russia.

Here is a shot of US Goalie. It is amazing how far she was out of the water.

USA played a good game. They won 12-7. Here they are scoring a goal.

The third game was Hungary vs. Greece. Hungary had a large cheering section. I wish I had some good photos of them. Greece had about 3 fans, but they kept at it. Hungary beat Greece 10-4.

We missed the last game which was China vs. Italy. I would have loved to stay for that game, but we also wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to make it to the Water Cube for our swimming tickets.

In the end, The Netherlands ended up with Gold, USA got the Silver, and Australia beat Hungary for the Bronze. It is exciting that we got to see all 4 teams that competed for a medal play.