Australia women's national water polo team

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Australia
Flag of Australia.svg
FINA codeAUS
Nickname(s)Stingers
AssociationWater Polo Australia
ConfederationOSA (Oceania)
Head coachPredrag Mihailović
Asst coachBec Rippon
CaptainRowena Webster
FINA ranking (since 2008)
Current7 (as of 9 August 2021)
Highest2 (2010)
Lowest7 (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)
Olympic Games (team statistics)
Appearances5 (first in 2000)
Best result1st place, gold medalist(s) (2000)
World Championship
Appearances14 (first in 1986)
Best result1st place, gold medalist(s) (1986)
World Cup
Appearances17 (first in 1979)
Best result1st place, gold medalist(s) (, , 2006)
World League
Appearances16 (first in 2004)
Best result2nd place, silver medalist(s) (2007, 2010, 2012, 2015)
Commonwealth Championship
Appearances2 (first in 2002)
Best result1st place, gold medalist(s) (2002, 2006)
Media
Websitewaterpoloaustralia.com.au
Medal record
Women's water polo
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2000 Sydney Team
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing Team
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Team
World Championship
Gold medal – first place 1986 Madrid Team
Silver medal – second place 2007 Melbourne Team
Silver medal – second place 2013 Barcelona Team
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Perth Team
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Gwangju Team
World Cup
Gold medal – first place
Gold medal – first place
Gold medal – first place 2006 Tianjin
Silver medal – second place
Silver medal – second place 1999 Winnipeg
Silver medal – second place 2010 Christchurch
Silver medal – second place 2014 Khanty-Mansiysk
Bronze medal – third place 1979 Merced
Bronze medal – third place
Bronze medal – third place 1983 Sainte-Foy
Bronze medal – third place
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Surgut
World League
Silver medal – second place 2007 Montreal
Silver medal – second place 2010 La Jolla
Silver medal – second place 2012 Changshu
Silver medal – second place 2015 Shanghai
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Kirishi
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Santa Cruz
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Kirishi
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Tianjin
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Kunshan
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Shanghai
Commonwealth Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Manchester
Gold medal – first place 2006 Perth
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 Gold medal (won 6–3 v Russia, lost 4–5 v Netherlands, won 7–6 v USA, won 9–4 v Canada, won 7–6 v Russia, won 4–3 v USA (gold medal match))
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 Bronze medal (won 8–6 v Greece, tie 7–7 v Hungary, won 10–9 v Netherlands, won 12–11 v China, lost 9–8 v USA, won 8–8 with penalty shootout 4–3 v Hungary (bronze medal match)).
2012 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Great Britain Bronze medal (won 10–8 v Italy, won 16–3 v Great Britain, won 11–8 v Russia, won 16–16 with penalty shootout 4–2 v China, lost 9–11 v USA, won 13–11 after overtime v Hungary (bronze medal match)).
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:


Results[]

Olympic Games[]

Main article: Australia women's Olympic water polo team records and statistics

Olympic Year Tournament[]

  • – 2nd place[1]

World Championship[]

World Cup[]

  • 1979 – 3rd place[1]
  • 1980 – 4th place
  • – 3rd place
  • 1983 – 3rd place
  • – 1st place
  • – 5th place
  • – 5th place
  • – 2nd place
  • – 4th place
  • – 1st place
  • – 3rd place
  • 1999 – 2nd place
  • 2002 – 6th place
  • 2006 – 1st place
  • 2010 – 2nd place
  • 2014 – 2nd place
  • 2018 - 3rd Place

World League[]

Commonwealth Championship[]

  • 2002 – 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold medal
  • 2006 – 1st place, gold medalist(s) 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 10GK 2R 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) 77 kg (170 lb) (1989-03-15)15 March 1989 (aged 32) 156 1/0 Australia UNSW Killer Whales [3]
2 Keesja Gofers 50D 2R 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) 70 kg (154 lb) (1990-03-16)16 March 1990 (aged 31) 201 1/5 Australia Sydney University Lions [4]
3 Hannah Buckling 20CB 2R 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) 75 kg (165 lb) (1992-06-03)3 June 1992 (aged 29) 184 1/5 Australia Sydney University Lions [5]
4 Bronte Halligan 50D 2R 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 70 kg (154 lb) (1996-08-12)12 August 1996 (aged 24) 103 0/0 Australia UNSW Killer Whales [6]
5 40CF 2R 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) (1991-08-20)20 August 1991 (aged 29) 70 0/0 Australia Drummoyne Devils [7]
6 Bronwen Knox 20CB 2R 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 88 kg (194 lb) (1986-04-16)16 April 1986 (aged 35) 387 3/20 Australia [8]
7 Rowena Webster (C) 50D 2R 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 80 kg (176 lb) (1987-12-27)27 December 1987 (aged 33) 305 2/23 Australia UTS Balmain Tigers [9]
8 Amy Ridge 20CB 2R 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) (1996-08-15)15 August 1996 (aged 24) 81 0/0 Australia UNSW Killer Whales [10]
9 Zoe Arancini 50D 2R 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) 70 kg (154 lb) (1991-07-14)14 July 1991 (aged 30) 256 1/6 Australia Fremantle Marlins [11]
10 50D 2R 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) (1996-08-10)10 August 1996 (aged 24) 44 0/0 Australia ACU Cronulla Sharks [12]
11 Matilda Kearns 40CF 2R 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) (2000-10-02)2 October 2000 (aged 20) 5 0/0 Australia Sydney University Lions [13]
12 50D 1L (2000-11-28)28 November 2000 (aged 20) 5 0/0 Australia [14]
13 Gabriella Palm 10GK 2R 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) (1998-05-20)20 May 1998 (aged 23) 50 0/0 Australia [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[]

Under-20 team[]

Australia's women have won two titles at the FINA Junior Water Polo World Championships.[16]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "Water Polo - MIHAILOVIC Predrag". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  3. ^ "YANITSAS Lea". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  4. ^ "GOFERS Keesja". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  5. ^ "BUCKLING Hannah". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  6. ^ "HALLIGAN Bronte". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  7. ^ "ARMIT Elle". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  8. ^ "KNOX Bronwen". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  9. ^ "WEBSTER Rowie". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  10. ^ "RIDGE Amy". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  11. ^ "ARANCINI Zoe". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  12. ^ "MIHAILOVIC Lena". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  13. ^ "KEARNS Matilda". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  14. ^ "ANDREWS Abby". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  15. ^ "PALM Gabriella". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  16. ^ 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[]

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