Bronzed Aussies
Emmajo Grahame competing at the FINA Championships
The Australian U/20 water polo team seized the bronze medal at the 2011 FINA Women’s Junior World Championships in their match against Russia, thrashing them with a final score of 10-2.
For second year Bachelor of Emergency Health student Emmajo Grahame, who undertakes her studies at Monash University, Peninsula campus, winning a medal has been worth the wait.
“I competed two years ago in the U/18 championships in Russia, where the team came 7th after losing to USA in the quarter finals. Since then I have been focused on these championships in hopes of improving the result,” said Emmajo.
The Federation International de Nation Amateur (FINA) is the international governing body of swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming which operates the biannual championship competition.
Emmajo has been involved in FINA since 2007, and was overseas on a four week tour of Hungary, Holland and Italy in preparation for the championships, with FINA taking place in the last week of the tour in Trieste, Italy.
The squad for the U/20 team was chosen after the U/16 championships in 2007, in which approximately 40 women were chosen to take part. Over the years the squad has been constantly changing, coming to a total of 13 members. Emmajo is one of six people who has continued all the way to the world championships in 2011.
“In preparation I was training six mornings and four nights a week. The Monash Elite Athlete Support Program has helped me a great deal, with trying to keep up with my studies, training and travelling around Australia and overseas.
“They’ve helped me sort out any issues with getting work in on time, and gaining extensions if I need them since in some cases I have been overseas for the majority of the semester,” said Emmajo.
At the championships the Australian team drew their first game with Hungary, and then won games against Mexico and China, placing them second in their group. They then defeated Uzbekistan by more than 20 goals, placing them in the quarter-final against Greece, who they beat by two goals.
Their hard work was enough to place them in the top four, and lead to them playing Russia for Bronze.
“From the start we were up in this match against Russia and the final result proves that. Although we went in there with hopes for gold, and narrowly missed out on having a chance to compete for it, third place is an amazing achievement,” said Emmajo.
The team has now returned to Australia for a short break before resuming training. For Emmajo, it’s straight back into study, catching up on all the work she missed while overseas.