There is a desperate paradox about finishing second in a major tournament.
As Australia’s women’s water polo players hugged on the side of the pool, their disappointment and heartache was evident.
Within minutes of suffering their heartbreaking 11-9 defeat to Spain in the final, the Stingers would be standing on a podium with a silver medal in their hands.
While bronze medallists the Netherlands can come into the medal ceremony on a high after beating the United States 11-10 in a thriller of a bronze medal play off earlier in the day, the Stingers, with a bigger prize, must endure the ceremony with leaden hearts.
The reflection of what a phenomenal achievement theirs is can come later. At least, it should.
But this team showed that the easy happiness that they’ve shown all tournament is not just for show, but something they live by.
“If you can meet success and failure and treat them both as impostors, then you are a balanced man, my son,” said Rudyard Kipling.
That doesn’t apply here. Success is not an impostor to this Stingers side, but then again, they are nobody’s son’s.
And losing to Spain is not a failure. Far from it.
This is a team that has won medals at four of the last five World Championships, reached the final of the last three European Championships, winning two.
They, like Australia, were undefeated throughout the tournament.
They too had conquered America and the Netherlands.
But whenever you come so close there is a feeling of a missed opportunity.
From the moment the two teams entered this packed, cavernous arena, it felt like it might be the Aussies’s time.
Where the Spanish were tense and focused, the Aussies beamed their way through Advance Australia Fair and looked as carefree as you could be heading into the most important game of their lives.
Bec Rippon deserves an awful lot of credit for how relaxed this team have been all tournament.
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They give the air of being relaxed because they are.
They have embraced this Olympic experience, dealing with setbacks and glory with the same indomitable spirit that saw them reach just a second Olympic final in the all-too-short history of women’s water polo at the Games.
That’s despite a COVID-19 outbreak in the week leading up to the start of the Games that could have derailed their campaign before it even started.
These Stingers didn’t let it, though.
A brilliant shootout win over the highly-fancied Dutch, Hungarians and tournament favourite Americans showed what spirit that sort of environment can generate.
They needed all of that spirit when they found themselves trailing 6-3 in the third quarter of the match.
Spain were simply too strong defensively, Spain keeper Martina Terré stopping every shot from open play through the opening three quarters as the Stingers simply couldn’t use set themselves properly.
Alice Williams and Anni Espar exchanged goals before Danijela Jackovich scooped home off a blocked Zoe Arancini shot to make it a two-goal game heading into the final break.
Terré continued to frustrate with some superb blocks, but when Sienna Hearn scored from an impossible angle the gap was suddenly one and the Stingers believed again.
The masses of Spain fans roared their team on, who didn’t panic despite seeing their lead steadily evaporate.
Spain regained control, using their extra-player advantages in a way the Stingers simply were not able to.
After shaking hands, the Spanish team led the crowd in a joyous exultation of their victory, raising their arms in a synchronised cheering.
The Aussies walked in front of them, between the Spanish and their fans as the sound of their opponent’s triumph washed over them.
Some wiped tears from their eyes — that’s understandable, this could have been their moment.
Instead, the weight of the Spanish joy will now hang as heavily on them as it did to these Spanish players over the last three years.
But this team can now push on.
It has shown, once again, that it deserves its place at the top of the pile in women’s water polo.
Now they have to show they can stay there.
Before the final whistle blew, Spain’s bench players were in tears, the agony of their blow-out defeat to the USA last time exorcised after three long years.
The stands, packed with Spanish fans, erupted in joy as victory was confirmed, while Australia’s Stingers slowly drifted over to the side of the pool, coming together in a tight circle on poolside as the celebrations from those in red spilled over into the water.
There was one last address from coach Rippon, who had to have been proud of her team for their efforts over the past two weeks.
Then a flurry of hugs between this tight group of players that have fully harnessed the power of being such a tight-knit squad.
By the time the medals were due to be presented, the smiles were back. It had taken less then half an hour for the players to rediscover that spirit.
That’s the true measure of a team of this calibre.
That’s what will make them near certainties to go again.
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