- An American water polo player punched his Australian opponent
- The incident occurred in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games
- But fans don’t believe the American made a mistake.
The U.S. men’s water polo team fought against the odds to secure a surprise quarterfinal victory over Australia at the Olympics.
The Americans were limited to just six players in the water after Johnny Hooper was ejected inside the first seven minutes following a moment of red fog.
Hooper landed a hard punch to Australian Chaz Poot’s face, which was captured on video review.
Not only was Hooper out for the rest of the game, but the Americans also lost a goal because the incident occurred on an attacking play.
Instead of 2-2, the Australians earned a penalty and Pavillard scored for a 3-1 lead.
But furious water polo fans took to social media in droves to claim Hooper had been treated unfairly on Wednesday as his rival appeared to have held his head underwater.
“The Australian player clearly had his head in the sand and should have been sent off early,” wrote one fan on Reddit. “Shame on the referee.”
Another said: “I was shocked by that decision. At the very least, both boys should have been sent off.”
An American water polo player was expelled after hitting a rival player
Johnny Hooper received his marching orders after the moment of the red mist.
“So you can hold a guy’s head underwater but he’s flailing around trying to breathe and that’s a problem?” a third fan fumed on X. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m not a nationalist, but the referees are screwing the United States in this game.”
The United States fought back from a 5-2 deficit to take the match to penalties and held their nerve to win the decider 4-3.
