Beijing saw the US defeated by Hungary in the final, but Azevedo believes it will be an advantage that his side has maintained 10 players who tasted defeat in that match.

"That will definitely benefit us and it will be a key to winning. We are definitely going for the Gold medal. Our team is experienced and we have got some great players," he said.

The US has been drawn against Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, Romania and host team Great Britain in the group stage. The US captain considers that there are no easy rivals and says hard work could be the key to success.

"I would say at these Olympics there is a pretty level playing field, more so than ever, but for the past year we have trained harder than ever for these Games," he commented.

Those thoughts were echoed by US coach Terry Schroeder:"I think this is going to be the most competitive Olympic water polo tournament ever," he said, highlighting the quality of the qualifying group.

"Just to reach the quarter-finals we have games against Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary, so we need to stay consistent and play at a high level for the next three weeks," he continued.

However, despite the difficulty of the task, Schroeder was also optimistic about his side' s options.

"We have a veteran team. The expectations here are to go for a medal and this time for gold!" he insisted.

Meanwhile the Australian water polo team held their first training session in London this Sunday.

Aussie coach John Fox said they had done the bulk of their hard physical work and said now all that was left to do was "fine tuning" while player James Clark highlighted the side's recent solid performances.

"We've had a couple of good results recently, including beating world champions Italy 10-9 and drawing 7-7 with Spain. We lost 8-4 to Hungary as but a few lapses in concentration really cost us. But those results have given us confidence going onto the Games and we are ready to play Italy again in our opening Game on July 29th," said Clark.