WA Water Polo Trio Selected for Rio
Western Australian water polo trio Gemma Beadsworth, Glencora McGhie and Zoe Arancini have all been named in the Australian Stingers squad aiming for gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games after the team was officially announced this morning.
A 13-strong squad will look to carry on a proud tradition for the Australian women’s water polo team which won gold in Sydney 2000 and has more recently added bronze medals in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
28 year-old Gemma Beadsworth featured in both bronze medal wins and will line in Rio for a third Olympics, having contested in 2008 and 2012 with sibling Jamie Beadsworth, who represented the Australian Sharks in men’s water polo.
At 27 years of age, Glencora McGhie is heading to a second Olympic Games, with the Geraldton born athlete a qualified dental therapist outside of her water polo pursuits.
Zoe Arancini will make her Olympic debut in Rio, with the 24 year-old, a stand-out for Australia at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Russia, where she was named as a tournament All Star for her efforts.
Arancini is the daughter of two representative water polo players, with both her mother Wendy and father Peter having worn the cap of Australia in international competition.
Australia will face Russia, Italy and hosts Brazil in their preliminary group in Rio but coach Greg McFadden believes defending Olympic champion USA remain the team to beat.
“Our last tour proved the USA are still the one’s to beat, they won three of the five games we played against them. They showed us if you’re not on your game they can really dominate you.
“But you can’t discount any side, which is why you need to be playing at your best in every game or otherwise you may not come away with a win”.
“At the recent FINA World Cup Final, Spain showed that they are among one of the favourites and will certainly be a team to watch come Rio,” said McFadden.
The Aussies have made no secret they setting out for Rio with gold in their sights and McFadden believes they are a different playing group to previous Olympics.
“This team has more fire power which sets them apart from the last two Olympic teams I have coached.Previously we’ve relied on our senior players to be the leading goal scorers but over the last 12-18 months our younger players have been among the top scorers.
“For our new Olympians, they bring a wealth of experience each playing more than 100 international games.
“They have all competed at the World Championships and World Cup levels so they have the big game experience,” he said.
Western Australia now has 13 officially selected athletes on the Australian Olympic Team for Rio 2016.
Athlete Profiles:
