4 Calgarians eye podium as Canadian women return to water polo
Call it third time lucky for Calgary's Kelly Mckee.
After missing out on two previous Olympics, the veteran water polo star is, finally, taking aim at not only Tokyo but a gold medal there when Canadian women return to the sport for the first time since the 2004 Games.
She's part of a quartet of locals planning to make a splash in Japan, when Canada opens Olympic play Saturday at the Tatsumi Water Pool Centre.
“It's been a lot of pinch-me moments, and I'm sure a lot more are going to come,” said Mckee, who joins fellow Calgarians Kyra Christmas, Kindred Paul and Cora Campbell in the quest for water polo glory at the Tokyo Games.
“Our goal as a team is to definitely end up on the podium,” continued the 29-year-old Mckee, a graduate of the Calgary Renegades Water Polo Club. “We all dream of being an Olympian but also the dream is being an Olympic gold medallist. So that's what we're aiming for. It'll definitely be a fight, but it's a fight we're willing to take on, for sure.”
The Canucks know it won't be easy, especially with the United States in the hunt. The Americans have dominated the sport's biggest events in the last few years, with the other nine countries — making 10 the most for any Games since water polo debuted in 2000 — all fairly equal and in catch-up mode.
But Stars & Stripes glory isn't guaranteed, say the hungry Canadians.
“Their first place isn't as certain any more,” said Paul, a 25-year-old Edmonton native who moved to Calgary in Grade 11 to train fulltime with the Renegades. “Everything is up for grabs now. And especially this Olympics, because it's been a bit different for everyone the last year. I don't think there are any favourites going in, so if we go in and play the way we know how to, a podium finish is definitely a possibility.”
That would mark quite the return for Canada, given its long drought of even participating at a Summer Olympiad.
The last time the country competed in the Games was 2004 Athens, when it finished seventh and Campbell — now an assistant coach in Tokyo — was a player.
“Even just being here is much needed for everyone,” said Campbell, who also suited up for Canada's fifth-place finish at the 2000 Sydney Games. “For sure there are nerves, because none of these players have been to the Olympics before. But that could be a positive, too, that they don't know what to expect.”
What is expected from the Canadian women when it opens its four-game pool schedule against Australia early Saturday (12:30 a.m.) is a team focused on defending its own net but boasting a balanced offence.
“As a group, I think we're a pretty fast team,” said Christmas, a 24-year-old High River native who also moved to Calgary in Grade 11 and played for the Renegades. “We're a very dynamic team, so we don't have just one or two top goal-scorers. I think that we have a lot of people who can play a lot of different roles on this team.
“And I think we do have a chance at this point,” continued Christmas, whose own role is to take a lot of shots and be a playmaker from her right-side driver position. “Hunger is going to be a big part of it. It just takes one game to put you in the top four or at the bottom. It's really believing you can win and going out there and doing your best.”
The party line is, indeed, doing it with a defence-first philosophy.
After all, it's how they qualified for the Games. The Canadians allowed just 21 goals in five games before losing the gold-medal match to the U.S. 24-4 at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, with the silver lining from the silver medal gained being this trip to Tokyo.
“The U.S., Australia and us play a similar style of game, where shutdown defence is our strength and then we're systematic on offence,” said Paul, who joins Mckee in helping make up the backbone of the squad as centre defenders. “The European teams come in with a bit more flair on offence, so I think we match up well with Spain and Holland — we have a really good chance of shutting them down on defence and then going up and scoring on offence.”
“They're very prepared,” said coach Campbell. “We've done everything we can possibly do to prepare for this. And the things that you normally would prepare them for at the Olympics, they're non-existent here now (because of COVID restrictions). The mingling with other athletes and other countries ... well ... they're eliminated. It's almost like a regular tournament right now.”
It's just that there's a gold at the end of this rainbow.
“And it's been a long time coming, so ... yeah ... we're very excited for this,” Mckee added. “The team 10 years ago when I joined was very talented, but I think it's been so long that maybe we get hungrier and hungrier for this. We have such a great combination of older experienced players and younger players, and we're playing as a team. There's no standout stars — it's really a team effort, and I think we'll show that.”