Dark side of the pool: Underwater,overexposed

Footage shows sport is sometimes less civilised than it appears from above

With several news media outlets broadcasting every event at the Olympics,it is almost inevitable that water polo will have its share of R-rated moments.

At these Games,the most notable transition from tenacious to titillating (and quickly back again) came in the womens preliminary-round match between the United States and Spain last Wednesday. During a particularly spirited passage of play,NBC cut to an underwater camera,hoping to show players thrashing for possession. Instead,the network gave viewers a brief bit of risqué theater as the American Kami Craig pulled at her opponents swimsuit and briefly bared a Spanish players breast for all to see.

Undeterred,the Spanish player simply grabbed back before continuing on. While the flashing became a hot topic on the Internet and on social media,veterans of the sport were hardly surprised. That sort of thing happens all the time under the water during matches,in the area that one player called a jungle.

When I first started playing,we just wore regular suits,and I would wear two of them, said Heather Petri,a veteran on the US team. At one point,they gave us the suits that swimmers use,but theyre so thin that the moment someone grabbed them,they would just go rip!

Generally,Petri said,water polo referees call only what they can see. Fouls for grabbing or holding an opponent that can be seen above the water line are the ones that are typically penalized. What goes on underneath the water is virtually impossible to see and officiate.

Asked for her most memorable moment of underwater warfare,Petri said she played about 10 minutes of a game topless at the 2000 Olympics,when an opponent shredded her suit as they grappled for the ball but play continued. Left with little choice,she just kept swimming until the next timeout,when she hopped out of the pool and shimmied into a spare.

Petri laughed as she told the story,and Villa shrugged when the tale was recalled to her,saying essentially that it is just a part of the game. The person that invents a suit thats not going to move is going to make a lot of water polo players happy, she said.

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While the mens teams do not have the same sort of family-friendly television issues,that does not mean the players do not have their fair share of dirty play. Terry Schroeder,the coach of the United States mens team shook his head as he thought back to his own playing days. When I was playing,there was a Hungarian guy and his method of guarding was to reach between my legs and grab me and pull me down, Schroeder said. Hed be smiling and have his other hand up in the air,but for me it was a battle just to survive.

The biggest wrestling battles often come between defenders and attackers as the latter seek to establish position where they can set up an offensive sequence.

The battles for space in the water can border on epic,according to Peter Hudnut,a United States defender. Its a combination of judo and other martial arts mixed in, Hudnut said. Theres grappling and hooking,all of that. He pointed to his mouth. Every once in a while, he said,you catch an elbow or head-butt I caught a head-butt earlier this year in practice and lost two teeth.

As a centre on the American team,Ryan Bailey is often involved in battles near the opponents goal. He and the American captain,Tony Azevedo,both said they would be interested in seeing less tussling in the pool because it would promote a freer-flowing,more entertaining game.

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Not surprisingly,many of the womens players feel the same way both because of what a cleaner game might do for the sport over all,as well as the impact it would have on reducing instances of water polo wardrobe malfunctions. Everyone likes underwater cameras because you get to see whats going on,but as players we hate them, Villa said. Because youre being grabbed,youre being exposed underwater,and we dont want that on TV.