The whistle blows and the athletes move through the pool in unison, with beautiful and efficient strokes that move the water, raising a foamy and bubbly wake. They look the same, they move the same, but this is not synchronized swimming.
This is water polo, and the athletes are about to drown the opponent or hit someone in the face.
Part basketball, part hockey, part soccer, part MMA, the most physically demanding sport of the Olympics takes place in a pool right next to where Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel get most of the love.
Everywhere in the venue there are reminders that what you are watching is not the swimming you might be used to. It’s almost comical that the international governing body, FINA, considers it in the same category as swimming, trampoline jumping, and artistic swimming. Water polo, say those responsible, is something like the family member you want to party with.
Japan’s Toi Suzuki tries to retrieve the ball as he is held by Greece’s Konstantinos Genidounias during a preliminary round match Thursday.
(Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)
“Athletes who play water polo are the opposite compared to swimmers,” says Ben Hallock, a member of the United States men’s national team. “… We all hate swimming. It’s the worst part of training. “
At the Tatsumi Water Polo Center, the stars have purple eyes or red scratches that run from their necks to their arms. It is a sport that can be so brutal that its most serious offense is simply called “brutality”. The word appears 35 times in the refereeing manual for the sport. The word “swimming” only appears in the manual 16 times.
If it sounds like “Mortal Kombat” to you, it’s because water polo can feel like that, especially in front of goal, where a center forward tries to make room at all costs. The defender, with minimal limitations, can jump on that person and prevent him from getting the ball.
This is not an exaggeration: the most famous water polo match in history is nicknamed “Blood in the Water”. But this sport is more than brute force. It is also a kind of combo made with all kinds of sports.
U.S. attacker Maggie Steffens looks to pass against the Russian Olympic Committee during a match Friday.
(Harry How / Getty Images)
“I did swimming, I did basketball, I did soccer, I did gymnastics, I did dance,” said American player Maggie Steffens. “And water polo was the activity that united all the sports that I liked. He has the mental game, the emotional game, the physical game, the stamina. It’s a team sport, which is the only one you could probably play. So that’s really the appeal to me, as it took all aspects of different sports and put them into one. “
Steffens is considered the best woman currently playing the sport, and on Friday she became the top scorer at the Olympics. Two games earlier, against China, Steffens was elbowed in the face and blood dripped from his nose into the pool.
No match was lost.
On Friday, Steffens played with a bruise under his left nostril and a cut still visible on the bridge of his nose. He also had some recent scratches on his chest.
“It’s nice,” he laughed. “It does not matter that it is beaten, [mi] spirit is alive ”.
There are penalties that can get you fired. Sometimes they seem mundane. An “unsportsmanlike” foul can get you sent off in basketball. A red card expels you in soccer. And in judo, there is a category of fouls called “serious infractions.”
But “brutality”? That is probably the most glaring fault. It rarely happens and probably won’t with the stakes. But in the water and under the surface? Prepare to take a hit.
“Today I was punched twice,” said American player Luca Cupido after a narrow loss to Italy. “… It could be anything, a knee to the lower back, a blow to the ribs, anything. That’s why you have to play with your head held high ”.
U.S. driver Ben Stevenson prepares to shoot the ball past Team Hungary center back Norbert Hosnyanszky during a match at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
However, if you looked down, you would see what is really happening: jerks, shoves and punches that occur underwater while the players fight for the smallest positional advantages.
“It’s like playing basketball without referees and others could hang on to you and you were trying to breathe underwater,” said US center forward Alex Obert.
Players are upset if they focus solely on violence and ignore the grace, efficiency, precision, stamina, and strategy that ultimately decide whether a team is elite.
“I think it’s about a lot of skill,” said Aria Fischer, center forward for the women’s team. “And I think people want to focus on his brutal looks and fighting. But, at the end of the day, it is a sport that requires a lot of skill. There are many more things than physical play. That is something like a secondary part ”.
But it is an important part, especially for newbies to water polo, who tend to have the same reaction.
“Most people at first say, ‘Oh my gosh. I would be drowning. How come you don’t choke on that? ‘”Hallock said.
To survive you do not have to commit brutalities, stay calm when you are hit and not react to the most identifiable characteristic of the sport.
“A lot of people are drawn to that physical aspect, always wondering what’s going on underwater. And I think that’s a big part of the connection, “said American Maddie Musselman. “You know, there are a lot of fighting, kicking and punching, but being able to play despite that, I guess is what a lot of people look up to.”
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