teachnet
The U.S. women’s water polo team came to Paris as the three-time defending Olympic gold medalists and the 2024 world champions.
Team USA wasted no time getting to work towards a record fourth straight gold, opening the 2024 Olympics with a decisive 15-6 win over Greece.
The Americans led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, and scored six goals in the second for a 9-2 halftime lead.
Nine different players scored for the U.S. in the win. Jenna Flynn led the way with four goals on six shots. Maggie Steffens – the all-time leading scorer in Olympic women’s water polo – added two goals. Jovana Sekulic and Tara Prentice also had two goals each.
Greece finished fourth at the most recent World Championships, earning a berth for the Paris Games as the best finisher at worlds that had not yet qualified. The Greece women’s team is playing in its first Olympics since 2008, when it finished eighth.
The U.S. (1-0) will face a tough test on the second day of competition when they take on Spain on Monday, July 29, at 9:35 a.m. ET. It will be a rematch of the Tokyo Gold Medal Game.
Greece (0-1) will get a day off and will next play Spain on Wednesday, July 31, at 2:05 p.m. ET.
