Paris 2024: Spain Claims First Olympic Gold in Women’s Water Polo With Win Over Australia

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Water Polo: July 27 – August 11, 2024
•  Paris Aquatic Centre/La Défense Arena — Paris, France
• Meet Central
• Full Water Polo Match Schedule

The final day of women’s action at the 2024 Olympics was a good one as Spain defeated Australia to claim the nation’s gold medal in women’s water polo, improving upon their silver medal performance from 2021. Australia, meanwhile, finished with a silver medal and made the podium for the first time since 2012. The Netherlands pulled a mild upset over the defending Olympic Champion United States to claim the bronze.

Gold Medal Match: Spain Def. Australia, 11-9

Spain came out firing on all-cylinders in this intense match-up, making multiple shots on net in the first minute. However, it was actually Australia who struck first with Alice Williams scoring off of a penalty on Paula Crespi Barriga, putting Australia up 1-0. Spain was unfazed by the early deficit, with Paula Leiton Arrones tying it up only a few seconds later. The Spanish team and the Australian teams each punched in additional goals before the end of the first quarter, resulting in a 2-2 tie. With Spain winning the sprint to start the second quarter, another Spanish goal seemed immient. However, the Australian team executed excellent defense to keep the Spanish at bay. No goals were scored by either side until 1:38 remained in the quarter and Maica Garcia Godoy nailed a shot off an exclusion on Tilly Kearns to bring Spain up 3-2. Though the Australian team attempted to score several more times in the quarter, they failed to produce another goal.

After halftime, Spain came out firing on all-cylinders again, this time producing two goals. The first of the two goals came almost immediately off of the sprint as Bea Ortiz hit the net on an action shot. Ortiz scored again only 30 seconds later, resulting in a 5-2 advantage for Spain. Australian Abby Andrews punched in a goal for her team a few seconds later, but Ortiz continued her momentum with yet another goal. With the score 6-3 in favor of Spain, the Australian coaches took a time-out, which gave Williams the perfect opportunity to find the net again. Spain and Australia each scored again in the final minute of the third quarter, creating a 7-5 score in favor of Spain going into the final quarter of action. Early in the 4th, Australia looked like they might close the gap on Spain, narrowing the margin to 1-point. Ortiz, however, had other plans, launching off another goal of her own. Godoy then hit the net a few minutes later, giving Spain a 9-6 lead. From there, Australia never recovered, as Spain continued to hold that three-point lead until the final 19 seconds of the game when Williams hit the net on a last-ditch effort shot. The game untimately ended in a score of 11-9 in favor of Spain, giving the team the gold medal.

Ortiz was ultimately the key player for Spain in the match, picking up 4 goals on 7 shots. Godoy also had a strong showing, punching in 3 goals of her own. For Australia, Williams carried the team’s shooting with 5 goals on 12 attempts.

Women’s Bronze Medal Match: Netherlands Def. United States, 11-10

For the first time since women’s water polo was added to the Olympic Games in 2000, the US women will be leaving without a medal as the Netherlands managed to pull off an upset in an extremely tight match-up.

Through the first two quarters of play, it was all the USA as the Americans piled on goals. Rachel Fattal netted the first score of the game only a minute into the quarter, bringing the USA up 1-0. Though Sabrina van der Sloot managed to tie the game up 1-1, the Americans continued to fire, building a 3-1 lead into the final seconds of the first quarter. With 3 seconds left however, Van der Sloot hit the net off of a penalty on Emily Mary Ausmus, scoring what might have been the most important goal of the game to end the quarter with a score of 3-2. Though that goal might’ve seemed relatively insignificant at the time, it ultimately kept the Netherlands in the game and might’ve pushed them to victory. The Americans opened the second quarter going 3-0 over the Netherlands, while holding them to only 1 point on offense. With the American seige seemingly slowing down at the end of the period, the Netherlands attempted to make a few plays. However, they couldn’t find the net again, while Neushul netted another goal for the US to take them into the half with a 7-3 lead.

It was in the third period that the Netherlands finally got into a grove with shooting. Though the US continued to score, the Netherlands began to match every US goal with a goal of their own, maintaining the 4 point margin through the majority of the quarter. Then, with 46 seconds left in the quarter Van der Sloot hit a major goal off of a counter attack, narrowing the American lead to 9-6. From then on, the Netherlands dominated on offense into the 4th quarter, hitting another goal only seconds into the action. Though American Jenna Flynn added a goal for the Americans, bringing the score up to 10-7, the Netherlands continued to fight back, slowly narrowing the lead point-by-point. With 1:19 left to play, Bente Rogge nailed the game-tying goal for the Netherlands. Then, with 9 seconds left in the game, the US turned-over possession of the ball, setting the Netherlands up to potentially score the game-tying goal. The coaches took a timeout to set up the team. Then, the ball was passed to Van der Sloot with a second left to play. Off of an action shot, Van der Sloot found the net, nailing the game-winning goal for the Netherlands to secure the bronze medal.

Van der Sloot had a huge performance in the victory. In addition to scoring the game-winning goal, she scored 6 goals on 7 shots during the game to produce a remarkable 86% scoring rate.

Other Women’s Game Results:

• Hungary def. Italy, 15-12
• Greece def. Canada, 19-10

Final Women’s Rankings – Elimination Rounds:

1. Spain
2. Australia
3. Netherlands
4. USA
5. Hungary
6. Italy
7. Greece
8. Canada