I have been playing water polo for nearly 18 years now. Almost everyone in my circle who played polo growing up back in Serbia had this dream of making it to the Olympics. We were just kids, but being around the big shots of the sport felt like hanging with superheroes. It was like the ultimate goal. Years down the line, it got me wondering: what's the secret sauce that sets the champs apart from the pack? So, I started digging into the data. Water polo isn't exactly known for being a data-driven sport, but let's take a look anyway.
Men's water polo made its Olympic debut in 1900. However, what's particularly interesting is that in the 1900 and 1904 Olympics, clubs were the ones competing, rather than national teams. It wasn't until 1908 that national teams represented their countries in the sport. As a result, our analysis will focus on the Olympic Games starting from 1908 and conclude with the 2016 Summer Olympics, as this is the latest event for which we have comprehensive data. In the following chart, we can see all of the medalists, ranked from most to least medals.
If we take a closer look at the medalists, we quickly notice that every country that has ever won a medal in the Olympics comes from Europe, with the exception of the United States. The following graph shows the medal distribution for each continent.
Europe seems a little too dominant. Why might this be the case?
One aspect of the game that the data allowed us to analyze was the physical attributes of the athletes. An interesting finding is that the athletes that have won a medal in the olympics tend to be taller and weight more than the athletes that haven't. The following graph illustrates this, having the weight in kilograms on the x-axis and the height in centimeters on y-axis. The size of the ball reflects the number of medals.
It's very interesting to see such difference in build between the medalists and the other participants. Or in this case Europe, the United States and the rest of the world.
In essence, achieving success in water polo requires more than mere height or weight. Numerous nuanced factors contribute to proficiency in the sport, often overlooked. One such factor is the prevalence of left-handed players. Despite its primarily European roots, water polo is gaining traction in countries like the U.S., where data plays a significant role in sports. I believe the sport is progressing positively in its embrace of data-driven approaches.
