Long time coming - new games, new sport

Brad Alan Lewis

Sydney - At the sound of the opening whistle, the American team,

led by captain Julie Swail, swam furiously from the U.S. side of the

pool. Charging from the other side of the pool was the team from the

Netherlands, led by Karin Kuipers.

The near-capacity crowd cheered wildly as Julie reached the ball first

and flipped it neatly back to her teammate, Maureen O’Toole. The game was

under way, the battle engaged, and an important milestone in Olympic

competition was now complete.

Here’s Olympic trivia: in which sports do men and women compete

together as equals? Clue: they compete together in only two sports - one

of the sports is very obvious ... equestrian. In fact, women riders often

take the gold over men in equestrian.

For the most part in the Olympics, men and women compete separately.

Usually they have the same events, separated only by gender. For example,

men and women runners compete in the marathon, but in separate events.

Interestingly, gender testing, which has been a part of the Games

since 1976, has been dropped from the Olympics as of this year. The

reason given is somewhat curious, since all medal winners must provide a

carefully monitored urine test after their event to check for illegal

drug use.

And I mean CAREFULLY monitored - the technician monitoring the test

will be able to see if the athlete is actually a man posing as a woman.

The previous test, a chromosome-count test, had some technical

limitations that occasionally gave incomplete or flawed results.

When it comes to making constructive changes, the International

Olympic Committee often takes a while to get up to speed. The IOC’s

treatment of women is a good example. For example, until 1972 the longest running event in which women were allowed to compete was the 800 meters.

A better example is water polo, which has been in the games since 1900,

but contested only by men.

On Saturday, Sept. 16, 2000, at 4 in the afternoon, a new chapter in

Olympic history began: the first women’s water polo match. Except for a

slightly smaller playing field, the women’s game is exactly the same as

the men’s - same exact rules, same 35-second clock.

The U.S. women’s team had the difficult task of taking on the favored

team from the Netherlands.

The U.S. coach, Guy Baker, had assembled a true team - no superstars,

just 13 dedicated women who have trained four to seven hours a day at the

Olympic Training Center in Los Alamitos.

The youngest player, Ericka Lorenz, is only 19; the oldest, Maureen

O’Toole, is 39. Her daughter, Kelly, was in the stands cheering her on,

as was Maureen’s mother. In fact, every U.S. athlete had at least one

close relative in the stands - and they all came to cheer with sheer

Olympic fervor - signs and banners waving - foot stomping and clapping.

Their cheers caused the stands to shake and rumble as the U.S. scored the

first goal, then the second, then the third, all within the first

seven-minute quarter.

Cheering with abandon was Julie Swail’s mother, Judy. Not only is she

rightly proud of her daughter, she is excited that women’s water polo has

finally arrived at the Games.

“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. “The Australia team

threatened a lawsuit which was instrumental in finally getting women’s

water polo in the Games.”

Not only has Judy, a resident of Huntington Beach, seen much of the

world while following her daughter to competitions, she has become an

expert on the game. “It’s tactical, but it can also be quite brutal. They

have their share of black eyes and scratched faces. And, just like in the

men’s game, a lot of action goes on under water.”

Once the Games are over, Judy’s daughter, Julie Swail, won’t have much

time to rest. She has been hired to coach the newly-inaugurated women’s

polo team at UC Irvine.

The team from the Netherlands scored late in the first quarter, then

again early in the second quarter. The U.S. team managed to stay ahead -

just ahead - until the last quarter, when the U.S. scored two goals in

quick succession, putting the game away. Final: USA 6, Nederlands 4.

Veteran Newport Harbor High water polo coach Bill Barnett, a former

men’s national head coach, who is assisting the U.S. men’s team, was

poolside cheering for the U.S. women.

Afterward he reflected on this new addition to the Olympic competitive

roster. “The level of play has come up every year. I thought the play

tonight was excellent. I thought the U.S. women dominated the game from

the start to the finish and played excellent defense.”

How does he compare the men’s and women’s game?

“I think the girls are more entertaining to watch because they do more

tactically different things, rather than just pound the ball to set. Men

just throw to set, throw to set, throw to set.”

It’s a long way until the gold medal game. The U.S. will play all five

opposing teams in round-robin format in order to qualify for the

semifinals, which will be held next Friday. The finals will be Saturday,

Sept. 23.

This first victory certainly gets the U.S. team off to a good start

towards the gold.

Here’s the answer to my earlier question: the second sport in which

men and women compete as equals: Sailing. Men and women compete as equals

in several of the classes, including Tornado and Soling.

Brad Alan Lewis is a product of Corona del Mar High and a gold medal

winner in rowing at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.