An encouraging match in the pool and in the stands!
In Saint-Denis, there was a repetition of a big dream for the French women’s water polo team. Against the USA, the Blues aimed to do well against one of the best nations in the world, but also to get a feel for the new Olympic Aquatic Center.
A match with strong symbolic meaning for the blue goalkeeper, Mia Rycraw. When she arrived in France in 2018, the 29-year-old young woman was born in the United States, in California. However, it is under the French colors that she shines and collects the first applause from the Olympic Aquatic Center after an explosive stop.
“It’s the best team in the world and for us it’s a good experience. I played with several girls from the USA team in college,” she says in French to olympics.compresent on site.
A caring and warm crowd came to cheer on a very young French team, with more than half of the squad under the age of 22.
As the “Allez les Bleues” repeated in the brand new venue, built for the Olympic Games in Paris, the Americans got off to the best start, quickly leading three to nil, thanks to an excellent Jenna Flynn.
It was at the end of the first quarter that the stadium jumped with joy for the first time with the first goal of Blues signing Juliette Dhalluin. The 19-year-old polo player went to the United States to study biochemistry, before returning for the big challenge of the Paris Olympics.
At the World Cup in Fukuoka in July 2023, France lost resoundingly to the Americans, 5 to 16, scoring just two goals in the first three eight-minute quarters. This time the French polo players needed just 11 minutes to get back to three goals in total.
Since the women’s water polo event appeared at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, France has never had the chance to appear on the final table in the discipline. The Blues also lack luck this evening, hitting the crossbar four times (!).
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