U.S. women’s water polo, with an unlikely hype man, looks at Olympic history – and change for the sport

Flavor Flav realizes it’s an unexpected crossover.

The rap icon once only had a vague idea of ​​water polo, having watched Olympic matches on television. But Flav has a newfound appreciation for the sport and marvels at the sheer endurance required to play the sport, having recently signed a five-year sponsorship deal to serve as the official hype man for the U.S. Women’s National Water Polo Teams and gentlemen.

“What kind of relationship does rap have with water polo? None,” said Flav.

Until now.

How the partnership came about is well documented: Maggie Steffens, longtime captain of the U.S. women’s national team, posted a photo of the players to her Instagram in May with a caption outlining the challenges athletes often face, including that players typically have multiple have jobs while pursuing their Olympic dreams. She called on her followers to watch and support women’s sports.

Flav, who said his manager initially flagged the post, responded to the call and pledged his support. This created an unprecedented partnership. Him and Steffens appeared together last Monday on ‘CBS Mornings’, where Flav announced that he would give $1,000 to each team member and a Virgin Voyage cruise to the squad.

The 65-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said this The Athletics he plans to attend the Paris Games and cheer on the team as they strive for a fourth straight Olympic gold medal, a feat that has not yet been accomplished by any men’s or women’s water polo team.

“I’m there to whip them up. I’m there to try to get them into the spirit of winning that fourth gold medal,” Flav said with a confidence befitting his role. “…And I know we can do it. We’re going to make it.”

Flav also said he plans to attend the women’s team’s final pre-Olympic home match against Hungary. He wrote in a post on

I will be at the game on Tuesday, I will take pictures and sign autographs before and after the game, but not during the game, we are all here to cheer on these women https://t.co/8AHYAtzE0R

— FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) July 3, 2024

“I try to get as many people involved as possible,” he said. “Hopefully what I do will open the doors for other celebrities like myself to help sponsor these Olympic teams because these (athletes) are doing their very best to make the United States look good.”

The US women’s water polo team has welcomed the extra eyeballs in their quest for an Olympic record. Coach Adam Krikorian, who has led the United States to more Olympic gold than any coach on any team in women’s water polo, called it “a sport that craves attention and seeks fame.”

“We are a team that sometimes feels like we go unnoticed,” he said. “And so when you have someone step into the spotlight and share their love and passion for our team, it’s moving. We love it. We embrace it. We hope it inspires others to go further.”

Krikorian said he wouldn’t mind if Flav’s interest encourages a bandwagon group to follow their journey this summer: “We’ll take them all. In the beginning you didn’t have to be with us.”

What new fans will rally around is a team that is synonymous with success. Since he was hired in 2009, Krikorian and the U.S. women have achieved a staggering feat, claiming gold at the last three Olympics and six of the last nine world championships.

But Krikorian — a former UCLA water polo standout who calls the late basketball legend John Wooden his coaching idol — is less concerned about the results. The scores don’t even appear when his staff reevaluates a practice or game. He preaches presence over perfection, a philosophy he emphasized when discussing Emily Ausmus, a forward who Krikorian believes has taken on a bigger role as a defender.

At 18, Ausmus is the team’s youngest player and represents a corps with no Olympic experience on a roster nearly split between novice Olympians (seven) and returners (six). That level of experience marks a shift from the last Olympic cycle in Tokyo in 2021, when most players were part of the group that also won gold in Rio in 2016.

At the other end of the experience spectrum is Steffens, who has helped the US to gold at the last three Games. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, she became the all-time top scorer in women’s Olympic water polo. And if the American women take gold in Paris, Steffens will become the first water polo player to win four Olympic gold medals in a row.

Steffens, 31, can list younger players on this year’s roster who she connected with at earlier stages of life, highlighting the full-circle experience for her at these Games:

— Ryann Neushul, 24, is the third Neushul sister with whom Steffens will play in the Olympics. “I remember when she was just a kid,” Steffens said;

– Jenna Flynn and Steffens photographed together at the Rio Games when Flynn was a young fan. “Now she’s at Stanford and here on Team USA and one of my best friends on the team, and the difference is 11 years.”

– Jewel Roemer, like Steffens, is from Northern California, and Steffens grew up attending men’s scrimmages at Diablo Valley College, coached by Roemer’s father. “I remember getting nice videos from (Jewel) saying, ‘Good luck.’”

— Ausmus attended camps and clinics organized by Steffens’ company, 6-8 Sports. “(She was) someone we talked about five, six, eight years ago, like, ‘Oh my god, this girl is so good and we’re really excited to see her potential.’”

“We really created a special bond,” Steffens said of the younger group. “And I think as much as they look up to me as a leader and have looked up to me since they were kids and followed that path, I think it’s really amazing that I look up to them as much.”

Steffens is sincere in her praise, as well as her belief in her teammates. Ashleigh Johnson, who is making her third Olympic appearance with Team USA, called Steffens “a dreamer in every sense.”

“When you’re around Maggie, anything is possible,” said Johnson, 29, the team’s goalkeeper who is widely considered the best in the world at her position. “She is our captain, but as her friend, she will build a way for every dream to become a reality. And if you believe something, she will believe it and you will achieve it together.”

For example, Johnson said Steffens typically encourages others as he struggles through the toughest parts of training or runs through a final swim set. Outside the pool, Steffens is the one who lands in a new city after 24 hours of travel and either has a full itinerary ready or goes exploring without a plan. She has an “Energizer Bunny attitude,” Johnson said.

That boundless energy has transferred to other facets as Steffens and Johnson have become de facto ambassadors for their sport, a role that wasn’t always natural for them. In 2016, Johnson became the first Black woman to make the U.S. Olympic water polo team. She said that over time she felt increasingly empowered to speak about her experiences, share her story and champion diversity to inspire others.

Steffens, who joined the team when she was 15 years old, said it took her 15 or 16 years to find her voice in advocating for female athletes and more openly discussing the financial challenges of playing the sport .

Olympic water polo training takes place in Southern California, a part of the country with a notoriously high cost of living. In an Olympic year, training is six days a week and is essentially a full-time job for the athletes, Steffens said.

Payouts at the Games depend on the sport, country and finish, but the International Olympic Committee and each sport’s governing body have not traditionally paid winners. In a first for an international federation, World Athletics, which oversees track and field, announced in April that it would award $50,000 in prize money to gold medalists at the Paris Games.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee gave athletes $37,500 for winning gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Steffens said she would play water polo — where there is no professional women’s league in the U.S. — if she wasn’t making money and had to couch surf, but she hopes future water polo athletes won’t have to work another job to make a living to be able to provide. themselves while performing at the highest level.

“I would like to see people in the future retire much later in their careers because they can afford to keep playing water polo and not feel like they have to retire at 22 to have a to get a ‘real job’,” she said.

Any support helps, Steffens said, and Flav’s sponsorship is an example of the reward she’s received after posting about the topic.

“One thing I love about water polo and our team is that it’s a very down-to-earth, humble, hard-working mentality,” Steffens said. “And one of my dreams is to leave the sport and the women in this sport better than when I came into it, and hopefully provide more opportunities, more exposure, get their stories told, get their names heard. ”

Steffens knows there is more work to do and more fans are needed. But everyone counts, and so far she’s achieving her goals.

GO DEEPER

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(Top illustration by Maggie Steffens and Flavor Flav: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletics; Photos: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images, Jerod Harris/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)