Water polo might not be a sport that immediately comes to mind when you think of the Olympic Games, but it’s a super fast paced and fascinating game to watch.
Both the women’s and the men’s Australian teams brought their A-games to the pool at Paris 2024, so here’s everything to know about them.
Australian men’s water polo team
The Australian men’s water polo team are known as the Sharks, and they’re out for blood at the Paris 2024 games.
With competition getting underway on 27 July, they’ve already faced a plethora of countries and solidified themselves as a real threat in the pool.
The Sharks are searching for their first-ever Olympic medal in the event, with their best finish to date being fifth, where they finished in both 1984 and 1992.
Of the 13 players, 10 have made their Olympic debut in 2024 and just three have returned following the Tokyo 2020 games.
Co-captained by Nathan Power and Blake Edwards, the Aussie men’s team have come out of the blocks firing. Here’s the full team list:
- Marcus Berehulak
- Matthew Byrnes
- Blake Edwards
- Lachlan Edwards
- John Hedges
- Angus Lambie
- Milos Maksimovic
- Jacob Mercep
- Charlie Negus
- Luke Pavillard
- Chaz Poot
- Nic Porter
- Nathan Power
The Sharks are in Group B and will come up against Serbia, France, Hungary, Spain and Japan in the pool stages.
The men’s team lost to Spain (9-5) in the first round, but then defeated the reigning gold-medallists in Serbia (8-3), as well as defeated the host nation France (9-8) to keep their medal hopes alive.
The Sharks also beat Hungary (9-8) but then lost against Japan (14-13) in the final group stage match, but they just scraped through to the quarterfinals where they faced the USA. Sadly, their Olympic campaign came to an end after losing the match.
Australian women’s water polo team
The Australian women’s water polo team, the Stingers, have a successful history in the sport, winning one gold medal and two bronzes at past Olympic Games.
They won the gold in front of a home crowd at the Sydney 2000 event, and won back-to-back bronze medals at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 games.
Captained by Zoe Arancini who is making her third Olympic appearance, the Stingers will be looking to add to their medal tally at the 2024 Olympics.
The full team list is as follows:
- Abby Andrews
- Charlize Andrews
- Zoe Arancini
- Elle Armit
- Keesja Gofers
- Sienna Green
- Bronte Halligan
- Sienna Hearn
- Danijela Jackovich
- Tilly Kearns
- Genevieve Longman
- Gabi Palm
- Alice Williams
The Aussie women’s water polo team is in Group A and will be playing Hungary, Canada, China and the Netherlands in the round-robin pool stages.
They nabbed consecutive wins in the group stage, defeating China (7-5) and the Netherlands (15-14) in a penalty shootout. They then beat Canada (10-7) and Hungary (14-12) in another penalty shootout to remain undefeated and top their pool.
The Stingers came up against Greece in their quarterfinal, and won the match (9-6). They then faced the reigning gold medallists in the USA in the semis, defeating them 14-13 in a penalty shootout!
They then headed to the gold medal match where they played Spain, but they lost 11-9. They walked away with Australia’s first-ever silver medal in water polo!
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