2012 London Olympics: Men's, Women's Water Polo Schedule Set

The draw has been set for the 2012 London Olympics and the schedule for the men's and women's side has been released. The United States draw is no easy task as they are group with the final four from the 2008 Olympic Games which include Team USA who were second, defending Olympic champion Hungary, Serbia who finished third and Montenegro who finished in fourth place.

So for the United States to move onto the medal round they will have their work cut out for them if they want to just get past pool play and into the quarterfinals. Team USA did tie defending world champion Italy recently, but Italy was not at full strength, the United States was testing out some new tactics, new players and the refs were not capable of controlling the high level game. So that result needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

In the 2011 FINA World League, Team USA earned the bronze and in the 2011 FINA World Championships Team USA finished sixth place. Getting into the medal round will take a lot of work.

On the women's side they avoid Australia who is a big time rival of Team USA and a tough opponent. At the 2011 World Championships Team USA finished a disappointed sixth place. However, in the draw between China, Hungary and Spain, only China is a real threat to Team USA as they finished second at the 2011 World Championships while Spain finished eleventh and Hungary finished ninth.

The other half of the bracket is brutal with China, Russia and Italy all who finished third, fourth and fifth at the 2011 World Championships, and then host Great Britain who is a solid team. So, Team USA will really want to win their group to avoid playing those world powers.

Men's schedule:

Women's schedule:

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