University Southern California Trojans
Women of Troy Help Their Countries To Olympic Qualification
March 31, 2016 | Women's Water Polo
Five former Trojans were battling for their respective nations last week at the FINA Olympic Qualification Tournament in Gouda, Netherlands. Teams needed to reach the semifinal round in order to secure a berth at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
After a tense stretch of group play and the all-important quarterfinal rounds, three Trojans had helped their countries to a trip to Rio this summer. Eventual tournament champion Team USA had two Trojans on the roster in veteran Olympic medalist Kami Craig and newcomer Kaleigh Gilchrist. Gilchrist's teammate on USC's 2013 NCAA Championship team, Anni Espar, helped guide her Spanish squad into the semis to secure another trip to the Olympics for the 2012 silver-medalist Spain.
USC also had representation on the Canadian and German teams at the event. Canada's veteran — and a teammate of Kami Craig's back when USC won the 2010 NCAA Championship — Joelle Bekhazi was a force once again for Team Canada, which unfortunately came up just short of Olympic qualification. Germany boasted yet another USC NCAA champion in 2013 champ Jennifer Stiefel.
While the Olympic women's water polo field has now filled out, team rosters will not be solidified for a while longer as countries still need to pare down their training rosters to a final list of 13 Olympians each.
The eight teams in the 2016 Olympic women's water polo field are: Brazil, Australia, China, Hungary, United States, Italy, Russia and Spain.
