#USC2Paris Olympics Recap (Day Six): Wins All Around For USC’s Women’s Water Polo Olympians Today

PARIS, FRANCE — USC women were widely victorious on the sixth day of competition in Paris, with two wins in women's beach volleyball, four wins in women's water polo and two in women's soccer today. Seven Women of Troy hit the pool and emerged victorious with their respective nation's in women's water polo, while three USC NCAA champs — Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (USA) and Tina Graudina (Latvia) — notched wins on the beach. Today's action also was highlighted by two fourth-place finishes by Trojans in women's diving and men's swimming. Racing in his second men's 200m butterfly Olympic final, current Trojan Krzysztof Chmielewski improved on his eighth-place finish at the 2020 Games with a fourth-place finish in today's final. And incoming Trojan Kate Miller (Canada) took fourth in the women's synchronized 10m platform final. In soccer, Croix Bethune made her Olympic debut for Team USA, which advances to the quarterfinals with today's win, as has Simi Awujo and Team Canada with a win today. See below for full results and statistics for USC athletes in Paris today.

July 31 Recap
Men's Swimming
200m Butterfly Final
   • Current Trojan and two-time Olympian Krzysztof Chmielewski (Poland) stepped into his second appearance in an Olympic 200m fly final and finished fourth in a time of 1:53.90 — setting a new USC record and improving on his eighth-place finish in the same final in the 2020.

Women's Diving
Synchronized 10m Platform Final
   • A first-time Olympian, incoming Trojan Kate Miller (Canada) placed fourth with a score of 299.22.

Women's Beach Volleyball
Cheng/Hughes (USA) def. Chamereau/Vieira (FRA) 2-0
   • Two Trojan NCAA champions — two-time Olympian Kelly Cheng and first-time Olympian Sara Hughes — picked up their second win in Paris with a 21-16, 23-21 win over their opponents from France.
Graudina/Samoilova (USA) def. Poletti/Valiente Amarilla (PAR) 2-0
   • Two-time Olympian and two-time NCAA champion Tina Graudina had 20 kills, five digs, one block and one ace in a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) win over Paraguay for her first win in Pool D competition.

Women's Water Polo
Australia 15, Netherlands 14 (penalty shootout)
   • Playing in her second Olympic Games, current Trojan Tilly Kearns started and had a two blocks and a steal in a tense and tight Aussie win over Netherlands, which was tied 7-7 at the end of regulation and ended up as a 15-14 Australia win after a deciding penalty shootout.
Canada 12, China 7
   • Two-time Olympian and NCAA champion Hayley McKelvey scored had one goal and one field block for Canada in its first win in Paris.
   • First-time Olympian Verica Bakoc made her debut in Paris to help Canada to its first win, making three field blocks and adding a steal for Canada.
USA 10, Italy 3
   • Incoming freshman Emily Ausmus played over 14 minutes and tallied a steal for Team USA in its second win of group play.
   • Playing in her third Olympic Games, alum Kaleigh Gilchrist scored one goal in the second period help Team USA beat Italy.
   • Two-time NCAA champion and Olympian Amanda Longan did not play in goal today for Team USA.
Spain 10, Greece 8
   • Playing in her fourth Olympic Games, Anni Espar had three field blocks and a steal to help Spain remain undefeated in group play with its third win in Paris.

Women's Soccer
Canada v Colombia
   • First-time Olympian Simi Awujo was not used as a substitute in Canada's win over Colombia. Canada will now advance to the quarterfinals.
Japan 3, Nigeria 1
   • First-time Olympian Nicole Payne subbed on for the second half to help Nigeria keep Japan scoreless through those final 45 minutes, although Nigeria was unable to come back from a 3-0 halftime deficit in its third loss of group play to miss advancement to the quarterfinals.
USA v Australia
   • Croix Bethune made her Olympic debut, checking in for Team USA in the 80th minute during the United States' third win in group play. The USA now advances to the quarterfinals.

Rowing
Women's Pair Semifinals
   • A first-time Olympian, Czechia's Radka Novotnikova finished sixth in a time of 7:33.68 in her semifinal to qualify for the B Final on Aug. 2
   • A two-time Olympian, Great Britain's Chloe Brew finished fifth in a time of 7:28.76 in her semifinal to qualify for the B Final on Aug. 2

NEXT UP:
Tomorrow (August 1), USC will have athletes in action for men's and women's swimming, men's and women's beach volleyball, women's rowing and men's water polo. Check the full list of participating Trojans along with schedule and results HERE.

Players Mentioned

Krzysztof Chmielewski

Tilly Kearns