Australia’s Stingers have suffered Olympic disappointment after losing 11-9 to Spain in the women’s water polo final as their frustrating 24-year wait for the sport’s top title continues.
Unbeaten throughout the tournament, coach Bec Rippon’s historic side finally met their match in a brilliant Spanish side, inspired by four-goal scorer Bea Ortiz and hat-trick star Maica Garcia Godoy, at a pulsating La Defense Arena on Saturday.
Even five goals from their brilliant striker Alice Williams were not enough for the Stingers, who were trying to emulate the famous class of Sydney 2000, which won the inaugural women’s tournament on home soil.
Since then, they have suffered many defeats in world tournaments and here was another, having to settle for silver after being vastly outclassed by the Spaniards, who improved on their own second place at the Tokyo Games.
“I’m very proud of this team, but it was tough,” admitted Rippon, who was a player on the bronze medal-winning team in Beijing in 2008 and is now the first female coach of an Olympic medal-winning women’s team.
‘We had a lot of good scoring chances, but we didn’t finish well and we didn’t make the most of our opportunities.
‘Their goalkeeper (Martina Terre) had a great game, but we were probably too predictable in terms of where we were going to shoot and we didn’t finish as well as we would have liked.’
Williams finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 21 goals while in goal, standout Gabriella Palm had another strong performance.
Their tournament began under a cloud due to a Covid-19 outbreak, but the Stingers fought back to remain unbeaten before picking up silverware (pictured) against Spain.
Stingers’ Bronte Halligan is pictured defending during the two-goal loss to the Spaniards. She later described winning the silver medal as pure joy.
“They’re both fantastic players and have come on in an incredible way. I’m proud of them,” Rippon said when asked about the star duo.
But their heroics still weren’t enough to upstage Spain, the tournament’s most in-form team, and after their initial disappointment, the Stingers players were thrilled to pick up silver medals in a tournament that had begun with the team rocked by a COVID-19 outbreak.
“We didn’t stress about it,” veteran captain Zoe Arancini explained. “It was just another bump in the road and we just had to get on with it. It’s the Australian Stinger way – you just have to take things as they come and move on.”
“I’m disappointed not to have won gold, but happy to have won silver. I couldn’t be more proud of this team. They really embodied the Australian spirit of fighting until the very end.”
Williams had given Australia the lead after just two minutes with a nerve-calming penalty, but that was the best they could manage.
They never led again, and even when a goal from Sienna Hearn early in the final quarter allowed them to go back to a goal down, the superb strikes of Ortiz and Garcia Godoy restored them full control. A fifth goal from Williams and another from Hearn were too little, too late.
The Stingers were thrilled with their performance at the Games and promised more big results to come from the team.
There were some tears of disappointment afterwards, but mostly the emotions were of pride and euphoria.
Bronte Halligan, who was photographed outside the Olympic opening ceremony as a child, smiled: “This morning, I woke up and said to myself, ‘Play for little Bronte’ – do it for that little four-year-old girl who fell in love with the Olympics.
“And it was my finest hour, and the only way to describe it is with joy.”
Keesja Gofers, the oldest member of the team at 34, was overcome with tears as she saw her young daughter in the crowd.
“You know, this team still has a lot to offer,” he promised.
“It’s exciting, Australia. Support us and watch this space, because the future is going to be exciting.”
