Sydney,
18 September 2000. Maureen O'Toole (USA) and Melissa Mills (AUS) during the
final. USA 1st, AUS 2nd (6-7). Credit: Getty Images/Hamish
Blair
Women's water polo was one of the new events at the Sydney 2000 Games, adding
another dimension to a game long ranked among the most demanding. Prohibited
from touching the bottom or side of the pool through four seven-minute quarters,
water polo players swim up to five kilometres in a game. They require the
technique and endurance of a champion swimmer, plus a football player's finesse
in passing, dribbling and shooting for goal and a rugby player's strength to
battle for the ball.
In fact, water polo began as an aquatic version of rugby in the mid-1800s in
England, before evolving into a waterborne semblance of football (soccer). By
the turn of the century, it had become so popular in Europe and North America
that it was included in the programme for the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris.
Tall, long-armed athletes are the prototype for the game, where 85% of the
body is submerged. About the same underwater percentage holds true for the
grabbing, holding, kicking, wrestling and yanking of swimsuits that makes the
game even tougher.