Australia has competed internationally since the
1948 London Olympic Games, and has qualified for all subsequent Olympic tournaments except
Atlanta in 1996, and although not achieving the success of European teams, has remained relatively competitive at international level since. In
1968, the team qualified to compete at the Mexico Olympic Games, but was denied entry by the
Australian Olympic Federation. Australia scored their first point in Olympic competition when they drew with
Bulgaria in the
1972 Summer Olympics in
Munich. The Australian team placed 5th in the
1984 Summer Olympics in
Los Angeles, and in the
1992 Summer Olympics in
Barcelona, the highest Olympic placing so far, and finished 4th in the World Championships at home in
Perth in 1998. Australia's best international water polo success came in 1996, when the Sharks won the six-nation
Control Cup in
Hungary, and followed it up with a bronze medal at an eight nation tournament in
Italy in the same year. However, they failed to qualify for that year's Olympics for the first time since 1948. A reinvigorated youthful team managed to finish second to
Canada in an international tournament in
England in 2002, and in 2003, they beat then world champions
Serbia 12–11 in a
FINA Water Polo World League match in Hungary, and followed it up by beating
Croatia 10–6 at the 2003
Water polo world championship in
Barcelona, Spain. Australia finished 2nd at the
2018 World Cup in
Berlin, Germany. At the
2020 Summer Olympics, Australia surprisingly beat former champion
Croatia. Yet, the Australians were not to able progress through to the quarter finals, but still managed to clinch two wins out of their five games. ==Tournament history==