PARIS – In the men’s quarterfinals between Italy and Hungary at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on August 7 at the La Defense Arena in Paris, Francesco Condemi (ITA) was cautioned for an act of violence at minute 2:24 of the second quarter.
The referee then reviewed the action using a video-assisted review (VAR) and confirmed the referee’s decision.
If a violent action is called, the offending player will be excluded from the rest of the game, substituted after four (4) minutes and a penalty throw will be awarded to the opposing team (World Aquatics Competition Regulations, Article 9.14).
Hungary won in the penalty shootout with 12:10 (1:3).
Italy lodged a protest after the match. The referee examined the protest and rejected it.
Italy appealed the decision.
Following Italy’s appeal, the appeal jury of the World Aquatics World Federation reviewed the decision on 8 August.
The jury rejected Italy’s appeal and referred to Article 20.7.5 of the World Aquatics Championships Competition Rules (Part 6), which clearly states that a match result cannot be annulled due to an incorrect decision by the video assistant referee. The result of the Hungary-Italy quarter-final was officially announced on 8 August.
Hungary advances to the semifinals of the Men’s Olympic Water Polo Tournament, where it will face Croatia on August 9. Italy will face Spain in the classification round (5th-8th) on August 9.
Upon further review of the evidence, which was not available at the time of the decision, including additional video footage of the game, the Italian player struck the defending Hungarian player in the face in a normal shooting sequence.
World Aquatics acknowledges that this move should not have resulted in the player being penalised for a violent action. However, the Appeal Jury sympathised with Italy but could not overturn the decision, particularly under Article 20.7.5 as previously mentioned.
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