Australia women's national water polo team
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FINA code | AUS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nickname(s) | Stingers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Association | Water Polo Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Confederation | OSA (Oceania) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coach | Predrag Mihailović | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asst coach | Bec Rippon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Captain | Rowena Webster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FINA ranking (since 2008) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current | 7 (as of 9 August 2021) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Highest | 2 (2010) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lowest | 7 (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Olympic Games (team statistics) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearances | 5 (first in 2000) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best result | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearances | 14 (first in 1986) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best result | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearances | 17 (first in 1979) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best result | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearances | 16 (first in 2004) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best result | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commonwealth Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearances | 2 (first in 2002) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best result | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Media | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | waterpoloaustralia.com.au | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Last updated: 1 May 2020 |
The Australia national women's water polo team represents Australia in women's international water polo competitions and is controlled by Water Polo Australia. It was one of the most successful women's water polo teams in the world. It is currently organised into the Asia/Oceania regional group.
History[]
The Australia women's water polo team played their first international in 1975. Since that time they have gone from strength to strength. The team have often had to struggle with lack of funding, but despite that continued to perform credibly on the international stage.
Following 6th place at the 1994 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Italy, they won the women's Water polo World Cup at home in Sydney, Australia, in 1995. In 1996, the women won the silver medal in the Olympic Year Tournament behind the Netherlands, then finished with bronze in the following year's World Cup in Nancy, France. Australia continued their successful mid-1990s run by winning the bronze medal at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, and remarkably over the rest of 1998 and 1999 were unbeatable, winning the four international tournaments they contested in the Netherlands, Italy, the United States and Hungary.
After an incredible 14 month winning streak, they only managed the silver at the 1999 world cup in Winnipeg, Canada.
Another success came in 1997 when it was announced that women's Water polo would be included in the Olympic Games for the first time at their home Olympics in 2000 Summer Olympics.
Having had an excellent build up to the Sydney 2000, the team went into the first Olympic tournament at home. They lost one match to the powerful Dutch side in that historic campaign, on the way to winning their inaugural women's Olympic gold medal in front of an ecstatic home crowd.
In an incredible Olympic final, the evenly matched US and Australia sides were tied 3–3 with 1.3 seconds remaining on the clock, when Yvette Higgins blasted in a nine-metre shot from a free throw. The ball crossed the goal-line 0.2s from the final hooter to give Australia a 4–3 win, and the gold medal.
The Australia gold team medalists were: Naomi Castle, Jo Fox, Bridgette Gusterson (C), Simone Hankin, Kate Hooper, Yvette Higgins, Bronwyn Mayer, Gail Miller, Melissa Mills, Debbie Watson, Liz Weekes, Danielle Woodhouse, and Taryn Woods.
The team was brought back down to earth with an Olympic hangover in 2001, only managing 5th in the World Championships of that year. This dip in form was short lived, however, as they won the inaugural Commonwealth Water Polo Championships title in Manchester, England in 2002, beating world No 3 Canada 6–5 in the final.
Australia then suffered another lean patch, finishing 7th at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, 4th at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and 6th at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The team returned to successful ways by taking the bronze at the 2005 FINA Water Polo World League event in Kirishi, Russia, and at the 2007 Water polo world championship in Melbourne, Australia by taking the silver medal, after losing a hard fought final 5–6 to the US team.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, the team took the bronze medal after beating Hungary for 3rd place in a penalty shootout.
Olympic record[]
Year | Games | Position |
---|---|---|
2000 | 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | ![]() |
2004 | 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens, Greece | 4th (won 6–5 v Italy, lost 4–9 v Kazakhstan, tie 7–7 v Greece, lost 2–6 v Greece, lost 5–6 v USA (bronze medal match)). |
2008 | 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing, China | ![]() |
2012 | 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Great Britain | ![]() |
2016 | 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 6th (won 14-4 Russia, lost 7-8 Italy, won 11–3 v Brazil, lost 8-8 Hungary on penalty shootout, won 11-4 Brazil, lost 10-12 Spain (5th-6th playoff) |
Honours[]
- Water polo at the Summer Olympics:
Gold medal 2000 Sydney Olympics
Bronze medal 2008 Beijing Olympics
Bronze medal 2012 London Olympics
- World Championships:
Gold medal 1986 Madrid
Silver medal 2007 Melbourne
Silver medal 2013 Barcelona
Bronze medal 1998 Perth
Bronze medal 2019 Gwangju
Gold medal
Gold medal
Gold medal 2006 Tianjin
Silver medal
Silver medal 1999 Winnipeg
Silver medal 2010 Christchurch
Silver medal 2014 Khanty-Mansiysk
Bronze medal 1979 Merced, California
Bronze medal
Bronze medal 1983 Quebec City
Bronze medal
- Commonwealth Water Polo Championships:
Gold medal Manchester 2002
Gold medal Perth 2006
Results[]
Olympic Games[]
Olympic Year Tournament[]
- – 2nd place[1]
World Championship[]
World Cup[]
World League[]
Commonwealth Championship[]
- 2002 –
Gold medal
- 2006 –
Gold medal
- 2014 – Did not participate
Holiday Cup[]
- – 1st place
- – 1st place
- – 3rd place
- – 4th place
- 2006 – 3rd place
- 2007 – 5th place
Team[]
Current squad[]
Roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Head coach: Predrag Mihailović[2]
No. | Player | Pos. | L/R | Height | Weight | Date of birth (age) | Apps | OG/ Goals |
Club | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lea Yanitsas | GK | R | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | 77 kg (170 lb) | 15 March 1989 (aged 32) | 156 | 1/0 | ![]() |
[3] |
2 | Keesja Gofers | D | R | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | 70 kg (154 lb) | 16 March 1990 (aged 31) | 201 | 1/5 | ![]() |
[4] |
3 | Hannah Buckling | CB | R | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | 75 kg (165 lb) | 3 June 1992 (aged 29) | 184 | 1/5 | ![]() |
[5] |
4 | Bronte Halligan | D | R | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | 70 kg (154 lb) | 12 August 1996 (aged 24) | 103 | 0/0 | ![]() |
[6] |
5 | CF | R | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | 20 August 1991 (aged 29) | 70 | 0/0 | ![]() |
[7] | ||
6 | Bronwen Knox | CB | R | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | 88 kg (194 lb) | 16 April 1986 (aged 35) | 387 | 3/20 | ![]() |
[8] |
7 | Rowena Webster (C) | D | R | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | 80 kg (176 lb) | 27 December 1987 (aged 33) | 305 | 2/23 | ![]() |
[9] |
8 | Amy Ridge | CB | R | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | 15 August 1996 (aged 24) | 81 | 0/0 | ![]() |
[10] | |
9 | Zoe Arancini | D | R | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | 70 kg (154 lb) | 14 July 1991 (aged 30) | 256 | 1/6 | ![]() |
[11] |
10 | D | R | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | 10 August 1996 (aged 24) | 44 | 0/0 | ![]() |
[12] | ||
11 | Matilda Kearns | CF | R | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | 2 October 2000 (aged 20) | 5 | 0/0 | ![]() |
[13] | |
12 | D | L | 28 November 2000 (aged 20) | 5 | 0/0 | ![]() |
[14] | |||
13 | Gabriella Palm | GK | R | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | 20 May 1998 (aged 23) | 50 | 0/0 | ![]() |
[15] | |
Average | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | 76 kg (168 lb) | 27 years, 283 days | 142 |
Note: Age as of 23 July 2021
Source: Australia Women | Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Squads[]
- –
Gold medal
- , , , , , , , , , , , , and Debbie Watson.
- 1986 World Championship –
Gold medal
- , , , , , , , , , , , , and Debbie Watson.
- –
Gold medal
- Naomi Castle, , , , Bridgette Gusterson, Yvette Higgins, Bronwyn Mayer, , Debbie Watson, Liz Weekes, , Danielle Woodhouse, and Taryn Woods.
- 1998 World Championship –
Bronze medal
- Naomi Castle, , , Bridgette Gusterson, Yvette Higgins, Bronwyn Mayer, Melissa Mills, , , Liz Weekes, , Danielle Woodhouse, and Taryn Woods.
- 2000 Summer Olympics –
Gold medal
- Naomi Castle, Joanne Fox, Bridgette Gusterson, Simone Hankin, Yvette Higgins, Kate Hooper, Bronwyn Mayer, Gail Miller, Melissa Mills, Debbie Watson, Liz Weekes, Danielle Woodhouse, and Taryn Woods. Head Coach: István Görgényi.
- 2003 World Championship – 7th place
- Emma Knox, Rebecca Rippon, Nikita Cuffe, Naomi Castle, Bronwyn Smith, Jemma Brownlow, Jodie Stuhmcke, Kate Gynther, Elise Norwood, Taryn Woods, Melissa Rippon, Joanne Fox, and Melissa Byram. Head Coach: István Görgényi.
- 2004 Summer Olympics – 4th place
- 2005 FINA World League –
Bronze medal
- Victoria Brown, Nikita Cuffe, , Taniele Gofers, Kate Gynther, Fiona Hammond, Alicia McCormack (goal), , Elise Norwood, Patrice O'Neill, Melissa Rippon (goal), Rebecca Rippon, and Mia Santoromito.
- 2006 FINA World League – 4th place
- Gemma Beadsworth, , Suzie Fraser, Kate Gynther, Fiona Hammond, Bronwen Knox, Alicia McCormack (goal), Jane Moran, Patrice O'Neill, Melissa Rippon (goal), Rebecca Rippon, Mia Santoromito, and Sophie Smith. Head Coach: Greg McFadden.
- 2007 World Championship
Silver medal
- Gemma Beadsworth, Nikita Cuffe, , Taniele Gofers, Kate Gynther, Amy Hetzel, Bronwen Knox, Emma Knox, Alicia McCormack, Melissa Rippon, Rebecca Rippon, and Mia Santoromito. Head Coach: Greg McFadden.
- 2007 FINA World League –
Silver medal
- , Victoria Brown, , , , Suzie Fraser, Kate Gynther, , Fiona Hammond, Jane Moran, Melissa Rippon, Mia Santoromito, and . Head Coach: Greg McFadden.
- 2007 Holiday Cup – 5th place
- Victoria Brown, Nikita Cuffe, , Kate Gynther, Fiona Hammond, Bronwen Knox, Alicia McCormack, , Jane Moran, Melissa Rippon, Rebecca Rippon, Jenna Santoromito, Mia Santoromito, and Sophie Smith. Head Coach: Greg McFadden.
- 2008 Summer Olympics –
Bronze medal
- Gemma Beadsworth, Nikita Cuffe, Suzie Fraser, Taniele Gofers, Kate Gynther, Amy Hetzel, Bronwen Knox, Emma Knox, Alicia McCormack, Melissa Rippon, Rebecca Rippon, Jenna Santoromito, and Mia Santoromito. Head Coach: Greg McFadden.
Under-20 team[]
Australia's women have won two titles at the FINA Junior Water Polo World Championships.[16]
See also[]
- Australia women's Olympic water polo team records and statistics
- Australia men's national water polo team
- List of Olympic champions in women's water polo
- List of women's Olympic water polo tournament records and statistics
- List of world champions in women's water polo
References[]
![]() |
Wikinews has related news: |
- ^ a b c d e "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. pp. 56, 57, 67, 78, 83. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
- ^ "Water Polo - MIHAILOVIC Predrag". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "YANITSAS Lea". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "GOFERS Keesja". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "BUCKLING Hannah". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "HALLIGAN Bronte". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "ARMIT Elle". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "KNOX Bronwen". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "WEBSTER Rowie". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "RIDGE Amy". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "ARANCINI Zoe". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "MIHAILOVIC Lena". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "KEARNS Matilda". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "ANDREWS Abby". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "PALM Gabriella". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ Russia after fourth title at FINA World Women's Junior Water Polo Championship Owen Lloyd (Inside the Games), 9 October 2021. Accessed 7 November 2021.
External links[]
- Australia national water polo team
- Women's national water polo teams
- Women's water polo in Australia