Cycle polo was featured in the Summer Olympic Games unofficial programme in 1908. [1] [2]
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awarded the administration of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, the city had no choice but to decline and pass the honour to London. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals at the 1960 Games.
The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, and commonly known as London 1908, was an international multi-sport event held in London, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908.
At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a polo tournament was contested. It was the second time the sport had been featured at the Olympics, with 1900 being its first appearance. The venue was the Hurlingham Polo Grounds in London. The Hurlingham Club presented a Challenge Cup to the winner of the tournament, which consisted of three teams. All three teams represented the British Olympic Association, with two from England and one from Ireland. The two English teams played each first, with the winner playing against the Irish team. Roehampton won both games, taking the gold medal, while the other two teams did not face each other to break the tie for second place.
At the 1908 Summer Olympics, seven track cycling events were contested, all for men only. The weather was poor, with rainfall causing the track to flood on occasion. The track was 660 yards (600 m) long ; some events used full laps of the track; the others used metric distances.
At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a water polo tournament was contested.
Cycle polo is a team sport, similar to traditional polo, except that bicycles are used instead of horses. There are two versions of the sport: grass and Hardcourt Bike Polo. The hardcourt game saw a sharp spike in interest in the first decade of the 21st century and new teams are sprouting up across the world in China, Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, France, India, Germany, Pakistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Hungary, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, England, Scotland, Argentina, Italy, Spain, USA, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Nepal, Brazil and Cuba.
Athletes from the United Kingdom, all but three of its overseas territories, and the three Crown dependencies, compete in the Olympic Games as part of the team Great Britain and Northern Ireland or Team GB. It has sent athletes to every Summer and Winter Games, along with France and Switzerland, since the start of the Olympics' modern era in 1896, including the 1980 Summer Olympics, which were boycotted by a number of other Western nations. From 1896 to 2018 inclusive, Great Britain & NI has won 851 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, and another 32 at the Winter Olympic Games. It is the only national team to have won at least one Gold Medal at every Summer Games, lying third globally in the winning of total medals, surpassed only by the United States and the former Soviet Union, and fourth behind Germany when considering gold medal totals.
Water polo has been part of the Summer Olympics program since the second games, in 1900. A women's water polo tournament was introduced for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Hungary has been the most successful country in men's tournament, while the United States is the only team to win multiple times at the women's tournament since its introduction. Italy is the first and only country to win both the men's and women's water polo tournaments.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed as the host nation of the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The British Olympic Association was the National Olympic Committee responsible for organising the United Kingdom's representation. At the time British athletes competed under the team name "United Kingdom". The British team comprised 676 competitors.
Belgium competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Great Britain men's national water polo team is the representative for Great Britain in international men's water polo. The team has participated in eleven tournaments at the Summer Olympics. The dominant team in the sport in the early twentieth century, with four Olympic titles. The only major competition they have ever qualified for was the first world championships in 1973. They qualified for the London 2012 Olympics by virtue of their representing the host country.
The World Games sports comprise all the sports contested in The World Games.
This article presents the national team appearances in the men's Olympic water polo tournament since the inaugural official edition in 1900.