Water Polo at the Olympic Games: Saint Louis 1904

The second edition of the Summer Olympic Games, which in their early years were anything but a profitable event, was meant to be held for the first time in the United States. Initially, Chicago was the chosen city. Meanwhile, the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition, an important world’s fair, was scheduled in St. Louis in 1903. The aim was to celebrate the first centenary of the Louisiana Purchase, but the event would be staged in the following year, as the organisers were facing severe delays.

by Simone Pierotti

As long as the fair was planned in the same year of the Olympic Games, St. Louis was proposed as the hosting city for both events. Indeed, the organisers threatened the establishment to plan alternative Games in case of confirming the original ones in Chicago, which later renounced to stage the event.

Differently from the 1900 edition, where 21 countries were present, only 15 nations competed among each other in St. Louis. The water polo tournament was affected, too, and as a consequence only three teams, all of them representing the United States, took part. A fourth team from Germany was meant to participate as well, but they were subsquently kept out of the tournament as the players did not belong to a single club. Despite being particularly unusual, this event has been officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee.

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Simone Pierotti è nato il 2 gennaio 1985 a Pietrasanta, ma è cresciuto a Viareggio, dove ha mosso i primi passi da giornalista e le prime bracciate da pallanotista. Ha giocato un po' in tutti i ruoli per oltre 10 anni e nel frattempo si è laureato in Comunicazione pubblica all'Università di Pisa, ha fatto da addetto stampa al Torneo di Viareggio e alla Coppa Carnevale di nuoto e collaborato per varie testate. Adesso sta frequentando un master in giornalismo sportivo alla Sheffield Hallam University, nel Regno Unito, e continua a seguire la pallanuoto. Simone Pierotti was born on 2 January 1985 in Pietrasanta, but he grew up in Viareggio, where he fell in love both with journalism and water polo. He played in almost all roles for more than 10 years and in the meantime he graduated in Communication Studies from Università di Pisa, he served as a press officer for the Viareggio Tournament and the Coppa Carnevale of swimming and he has worked as a freelance journalist for several news organisations. He is now attending a MA in Sports Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and he is going on with covering water polo.