YORKTON - When Canada’s women’s water polo team dives into the pool in Paris Saskatchewan Olympic fans have someone to follow.
While born in B.C. Blaire McDowell actually started her water polo career in Regina.
“I went to high school (in Regina) and played water polo,” she explained in an interview via WhatsApp with Yorkton This Week from Paris.
It’s a long way from a pool in Regina – the attacker played with Team Sask -- to the height of the sport, and McDowell said it’s all just a bit wild.
“It’s pretty overwhelming here honestly,” she said, adding just the experience of the Athlete’s Village is “just crazy . . . I never want it to end. Its so incredible. So cool.”
McDowell, who began playing water polo at the age of 12, while she and her family were living in Australia where the sport is very popular said at times she is left almost unsure how she fits in as she sees so many “super amazing athletes,” admitting it’s hard to realize she too is now an Olympian.
Next will be the march in the opening ceremonies with the rest of team Canada, an experience McDowell said is likely to be one of some level of “satisfaction for all the years put into it.”
It will be special too having her parents and sister attending as they have rarely seen her compete internationally.
“It will mean a lot to me,” she said, adding it will be special for her mother who was a triathlete before the sport of triathlon was added to the Olympic program and who made it into the top 10 in the world.
If it’s hard to fathom ahead of the actual competition, what of the first jump into the pool?
“I’m definitely kind of nervous,” said McDowell, then adding once the whistle goes it will likely become familiar of a game “in any other tournament.”
But what of expectations in Paris?
Team Canada will be competing in women’s water polo for the second straight Olympic Games. Seven of the athletes who were with the team at Tokyo 2020 are back for another Olympic appearance while six athletes will make their Olympic debut.
The team continued on to the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, knowing that it was their last opportunity to lock up back-to-back Olympic appearances. Team Canada finished eighth overall, which was not enough for an automatic qualification. However, Â鶹ÊÓƵ Africa’s decision to decline their continental spot in Paris elevated Canada into a qualification position.
So the team goes in something of an underdog, but also with a level of confidence, offered McDowell.
“I think it’s going to take taking it one game at a time,” she said, adding the team knows they can beat any of the other teams at the Olympics. “. . . We believe we can beat all of them.”
The key of course is not rising up to beat one team they might not be expected too, but putting a series of wins together to get to the medal podium, said McDowell.
For McDowell it will ultimately be soaking in every aspect of the Olympics knowing Canada and Saskatchewan is watching.
“There will be lots of feelings that I won’t know until I get them,” she said.
