The Olympic Games resumed after the break due to World War I and sports were definitely affected by the epoch-making changes occurred after the conflict. Huge entities such as the German Empire, the Ottoman one and Austria-Hungary had collapsed, sowing the seeds of modern Europe. Indeed, the nations which had lost the war were heavily sanctioned. Meanwhile, the Olympics, whose 1916 edition in Berlin had been canceled, began to involve an increasing number of countries.

In order to honour the people who particularly suffered the adversity of the war, the event was staged in the Belgian city of Antwerp, strongly involved in the conflict. The outcome was impressive, despite the austerity this edition was inspired by. The water polo tournament was contested among 12 national teams, a number which exactly doubled that in 1912. For the first time, non-European countries took part in the competition held on the European soil and these were Brazil and the United States, represented for the first time by a national team rather than by a club.