Star Metro - Australia's equality fighters savouring rise of women's water polo

A crowd of 15,000 people had filled La Defense Arena with each goal greeted with huge roars as local and travelling support enjoyed an entertaining contest.

Not bad for a sport that until 24 years ago was kept out of the Olympics with officials claiming it wouldn't find an audience.

"15,000, I've never played in front of a crowd that big and it is just phenomenal," Halligan told AFP.

Halligan, who scored twice for the Stingers on Tuesday, knows that for a century water polo was a strictly male-only game in the Games, until the International Olympic Committee (IOC) finally caved in to pressure and let the women's sport in for the Sydney Games in 2000.

That pressure came from Australian women players protesting and lobbying to get the oldest team sport in the Games to be open to both sexes.

They interrupted press conferences, gatecrashed events and made so much noise that eventually the Juan Antonio Samaranch-era IOC caved in.

"We talk about it a bit in our team, the legacy that Australian women's water polo has and the Stingers have, especially fighting to get women's water polo into the Olympics in Sydney," said Halligan.

The Stingers went on to win the gold medal, instantly winning the hearts of Australian sports fans and the current team has a direct link to that era in assistant coach Taryn Woods and operations manager Bronwyn Smith.

"We're so proud to have two of our Sydney gold medallists sitting on the bench with us every game and it's something that is just so cool," said Halligan.

"Many of us weren't even born when they were playing, but we know their stories and we're so proud."

- 'No room' -

Woods smiles when she thinks of the arguments raised for keeping Olympic water polo male only.

"There were a range of reasons given over the years, from there's not enough room in the village, to an argument that synchronised or artistic swimming was the female equivalent where there was only females," she said.

"It was a long time coming but I think we've proven that we're a sport that belongs here."

The impact of the sport earning its place in the Games was huge, she argues, with participation rates among girls rocketing.

"In the schools, it was almost immediate, there was a really massive uptake of water polo. And even now in Australia, in our school programmes, it's a much bigger, it's quite a big summer sport. It barely existed before the Olympic programme," she said.

"Being an Olympic sport brings funding, brings professionalism to the sport. So the standard has just increased and increased over time."

The impact has been by no means limited to Australia.

Traditional powerhouses of men's water polo, such as Hungary, who lost 5-4 to the USA in their quarter-final, have built women's teams up from almost nothing in the years since Sydney.

In the last four in Paris, Spain, who beat Canada 18-8, face the Netherlands, who won 11-8 against Italy.

Australia will now meet the Americans in a repeat of that 2000 Sydney final.

For Stingers head coach Bec Rippon, the buzz around the sport, with fans of all teams mingling in the bars and restaurants near the arena, makes the struggle for inclusion all worth it.

"The movement to get it in the Olympic Games, that was really led strongly by women everywhere, but particularly in Australia, people that I know and myself included, protesting and really trying to push for what deserved as a sport, and to look where it's come now....

"So much energy and it's just a privilege to be part of it."

F.T. Michaud--SMC