The women's water polo tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from 11 August to 21 August at the Ying Tung Natatorium. Teams from eight nations competed, seeded into two groups for the preliminary round. 20 games were played, 12 of them in the preliminary round (each team played the other teams in the group). Eight games were played in the final round.

Format

The tournament featured eight teams, separated into two groups of four teams. Each team played the other three teams in its pool once in a round-robin format. The first-place team in each pool qualified directly for the semifinal, the second- and third-place teams moved on to the quarterfinal round, and the fourth-place teams played each other in a seventh place game. The winners of the quarterfinal games moved on to the semifinals to face the top teams from each pool, while the quarterfinal losers played a fifth place classification game. The semifinal winners played in the gold medal game, while the losers played each other for the bronze.

Preliminary round

All times are CST (UTC+8).

Group A

<section begin=A /><section end=A /> <section begin=A1 /><section end=A1 /> <section begin=A2 /><section end=A2 /> <section begin=A3 /><section end=A3 /> <section begin=A4 /><section end=A4 /> <section begin=A5 /><section end=A5 /> <section begin=A6 /><section end=A6 />

Group B

<section begin=B /><section end=B /> <section begin=B1 /><section end=B1 /> <section begin=B2 /><section end=B2 /> <section begin=B3 /><section end=B3 /> <section begin=B4 /><section end=B4 /> <section begin=B5 /><section end=B5 /> <section begin=B6 /><section end=B6 />

Final rounds

7th place match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

<section begin=C /><section end=C />

Quarterfinals

All times are CST (UTC+8).

<section begin=D1 /><section end=D1 /> <section begin=D2 /><section end=D2 />

5th place match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

<section begin=E /><section end=E />

Semifinals

All times are CST (UTC+8).

<section begin=F1 /><section end=F1 /> <section begin=F2 /><section end=F2 />

Bronze medal match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

<section begin=G1 /><section end=G1 />

Gold medal match

All times are CST (UTC+8).

<section begin=G2 /><section end=G2 />

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Multi-time Olympians

Three-time Olympian(s): 4 players

Multiple medalists

Three-time Olympic medalist(s): 2 players

Top goalscorers

Medallists

Awards

Sources