AT SYDNEY 2000 THE FIRST TIME OF WOMEN’S WATER POLO AT THE GAMES CROWNS AUSTRALIA – SportHistoria

article by Nicola Pucci

It took exactly 100 years, if it is true that men’s water polo has been an Olympic sport since the Paris 1900 edition, but when in October 1997 it finally women in singlets were also allowed to compete in the five-circle arena starting from the 2000 Sydney Games which opened the New Millenniumit’s time to write a memorable page of sporting history.

From 16 to 23 September six teams meet for the women’s water polo tournamentamong these, obviously, Australia is the host and that two years earlier, at the World Cup played in Perth, it climbed to the third step of the podium behind Italy and the Netherlands. Precisely the “orange” they earned their ticket to the Games by winning the World Cup which in 1999 was hosted in Winnipeg, Canada, and which also promoted the formation of the “Maple Leaf” as the first American team ranked (beating the United States 6-5 in the final for fifth and sixth place), while the pre-Olympic tournament held in Palermo in April guaranteed the flight to Sydney for Russia and the United States, first and second respectively, and Kazakhstan, representing Asiarejecting instead the ambitions of “Setterosa” blue, reigning world champion but defeated by the Russians in the semifinals and therefore excluded from the Games.

It is played at Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centrewhere the challenges of the six-man group are scheduled which promote the top four teams to the semi-finals for the medals, while in the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre the two decisive matches will be played, the final for the gold and the match that will award the bronze. And On 16 September 2000 at 1pm local time, Australia opened not only the tournament but the Olympic encyclopedia of women’s water polo by facing Kazakhstana match that ended with a clear success for the host 9-2, with a hat-trick from Bridgette Gusterson and a brace from Yvette Higgins but with the enormous honor of scoring the first goal in the history of the Games going to Olga Leshchuk.

On the same first day, Canada and Russia ended their match in a draw, 7-7 with a hat-trick from Ann Dow, and the United States eliminated the vice-world champions Holland 6-4, while Australia, repeating the following day with a 6-3 win over Russia thanks to braces from Gusterson and Melissa Mills, confirmed its full scorewith the American-Canadian derby ending in a draw (8-8 with the United States recovering a three-goal deficit in the last quarter) and the Netherlands redeeming itself by overcoming Kazakhstan, 8-6 with Danielle de Bruijn and Marjan op den Velde scored three goals each.

Effectively, the Asian team turns out to be the bottom of the tournament, totaling five defeats in five games and then also lost in the match for fifth place against Canada, which after the two draws against Russia and the United States and the clear 10-3 against Kazakhstan, lost the last two matches of the group against the Netherlands (7-4) and Australia (9-4) being excluded from the quartet that competes for the medals.

The Australian teamcoached by the Hungarian István Görgényi, driven by Gusterson’s goals and with the legendary captain Debbie Watson bringing the necessary contribution of class and experiencedefeated in the third match by the Netherlands, they guaranteed first place by narrowly beating the United States, 7-6 with a goal from the inevitable Gusterson just 30″ from the end, and Canada in the last round thanks to three goals from Simone Hankin, a day in which the Americans, who in turn won against Kazakhstan, 9-6 with four goals from Brenda Villa, are definitively second ahead of the Netherlands, who qualified thanks to a 7-4 win over Canada in the fourth round of matches.

Russia, with only 3 points after four matches, seems likely to miss out on reaching the semi-finals, but the satisfaction of the Netherlands is decisive, as on the last day, already confident of qualification, they certainly don’t enter the water with a knife between the teeth, leaving the way open for Sergei Frolov’s team with 6-3 on the scoresheetscored by 3 goals from Sofia Konukh, overtakes Canada in the rankings and deserves its place in the top four.

By virtue of the ranking, Australia-Russia and United States-Holland will be the two matches that will decide the finalistsand what emerges, on September 22nd, are two pulsating encounters, resolved with the minimum difference.

At 1pm, the hosts, to be honest, are having a really bad time, finding themselves two goals down after the first three quarters of the game4-6 thanks to Elena Tokonn’s brace, but in the last period, throwing her heart over the obstacle, they place a 3-0 partial with the decisive contribution of Bronwyn Lee Mayer, best scorer of the evening with 3 goals, which is worth the overtakingmaterialized in the last 90 seconds.

In the second semi-final, the Netherlands lead 5-4 at halftime, but in the last two periods they stalled and were no longer able to find their way to the net and the United Statescreators in turn of what their coach Guy Baker defines as a “masterpiece“, thanks to two goals from Maureen “Mo” O’Toole and Coralie Simmons they overturned the score for the final 6-5 which opened the doors to the final for the gold medal.

Appointment, therefore, on September 23, 2000 at 9:00 pm, at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre packed in its 17,000 seats – after that Russia, beating the Netherlands 4-3 thanks to two goals from Konukh, the tournament’s top scorer with 11 goals, along with Gusterson and de Brujin, secured the bronze -, in the presence of the Australian Prime Minister John Howard and with the conduct of the match entrusted to the Italian referee Renato Dani and the Kazakh Vladimir Prikhodko. And what comes out of it it is a challenge destined to go down in the history of women’s water polo and Australian sport, with the Americans twice taking the lead and the home water polo players twice restoring the balancebefore the two goalkeepers, Liz Weekes and Bernice Orwig, raised the shutters and prevented the attacking players from finding the way to the goal.

When, two minutes from the end, Naomi Castle scores the 3-2, Australia begins to dreambut for the golden work to reach completion, a further 13″ is needed, forbidden to the faint of heart, with Brenda Villa equalized the score and with 1″3 to go, a foul was whistled on Julie Swail, Yvette Higgins found the right opening to put the 4-3 Olympic glory in the American goal.

We’ll just leave you to imagine what happens next. Australian jubilation…

2024-03-24 16:32:00
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