Women’s Olympic Water Polo Picks and Best Bets

The Women’s Olympic Water Polo Competition continues on Friday, August 2nd with eight matchups taking place. It’s headlined by the United States taking on France. The United States currently sits second in Group B play, with France in third place.  Before we dive into the Women’s Olympic Water Polo picks and best bets, let’s get familiar with the history of it in the Olympic games. 

Water Polo is a long-standing Olympic event making its debut in 1900. It would take a full century before we’d finally see the Women’s tournament added to the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The United States has been the most successful country in Women’s Water Polo and is the only country to win gold multiple times. In six Olympic Games, the United States has appeared in five Gold Medal games winning the gold the last three consecutive games and medaling in all six. 

Women’s Olympic Water Polo Picks and Best Bets

USA vs France 

Team USA -9.5 (-115) 

This match will take to the pool for the United States final game of group play at 12:30 p.m. ET. The match will air live on USA Network and Peacock. 

The Women of the United States kicked off the preliminary round of matches with a victory on Saturday over Greece 15-6. They followed it up with a rare loss, dropping game two to Spain 13-11. Only the second time the US has lost in the last 12 years.

They bounced back on Wednesday with a 10-3 win over Italy setting them up for this match with France. France has only played twice thus far, a first-game loss to Spain 15-6, followed by a nail-biting win over Italy 9-8 on Monday. 

While Spain proved to be too much to handle for the US earlier in the week they picked right back up and handled business against Italy. Their defense was strong and they took advantage of their power play opportunities. France was also able to beat Italy by a single point but wasn’t able to hang with Spain getting blown out 15-6. 

This is the United States’ last chance to make an impression in group play and send the message that they are still the favorites going forward. I think they’ll take care of business and cover against France. 

Hungary vs China 

Hungary -6.5 (-120) 

Friday, Hungary will take on China. The Hungarians dropped their first match to the Netherlands 10-8 but rebounded nicely with a 12-7 win over Canada on Monday. It’s been a rough go of it for China who’s lost all three matches they’ve been in. Australia took them down 7-5 in their first game, the Netherlands topped them 15-11, and finally, Canada beat them 12-7 on Wednesday. 

Hungary is the most successful country in the history of Men’s Water Polo and their women’s team has looked pretty strong through two games. China has looked overmatched in all three of their matches and is going to have a hard time sticking close to Hungary. 

Canada vs Australia

Canada +3.5 (-105) 

The women of Canada will face off with Australia in Friday’s group play. Canada opened play with a 12-7 loss to Hungary before turning the same 12-7 score around on China and claiming victory. Australia is 2-0, but neither game was easy. They just squeaked by China in their first game 7-5 and then followed it up with a dramatic shootout win over Netherlands 15-14. 

Canada should be a live dog in this game with a chance to win. They struggled against Hungary, a tougher team, and then took care of business when they needed to against China. Australia has pulled out the win in both games, but neither was super convincing. Even if Australia wins this game, it likely won’t be by four points. 

Check out the full Women’s Olympic Water Polo schedule.