Dumbfounded, then flustered, and finally frustrated.
Those were the emotions that passed through each and every one
of the players on the 2004 U.S. women’s water polo Olympic
team which won the bronze medal.
But third place was nowhere near good enough for a team heavily
favored to claim the gold.
With just 30 seconds remaining in its semifinal game against
Italy, Team USA had possession of the ball.
Then a whistle blew.
Team USA looked around befuddled, not knowing that the referee
had just whistled an offensive call on one of its players. Moments
later, Italy scored and ruined Team USA’s gold medal
aspirations.
While the referee’s license was taken away following the
Olympics because of questionable calls, it didn’t change
things for Natalie Golda, Thalia Munro and Kelly Rulon, three
current Bruins who played on that team.
“Disappointing,” Rulon said. “It was a total
heartbreaker. It would have been one thing if we lost fair and
square. It was a really confusing last minute of the
game.”
“To work that hard and to lose the way we did, I will
never forget,” Munro said. “It still hurts.”
The trio constantly thinks about the what-ifs and what it could
have done differently. Despite the ill-fortunes that transpired
during that match, however, these Olympians have come back to UCLA
to forge what many have considered the most dominant team ever
assembled in collegiate women’s water polo.
Gold medal by the wayside and bronze medal in hand, the three
Bruin Olympians have just one thing in mind when they open the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament today against Cal
State Northridge ““ an NCAA Championship.
And while the trio is of one mindset heading into the
postseason, each Bruin has taken a unique road back from the
Olympics to get there.
Golda’s path
Golda described her experience at the Olympics as quite possibly
one of the most memorable and life-changing times of her life.
When she returned to UCLA and began fall quarter this year,
however, she just didn’t have the drive to play.
At one point all the senior wanted to do was swim. Other times,
she just wanted to lift weights. But each activity had something in
common: It was always something other than water polo.
“It was like water polo, water polo, water polo all the
time,” the center forward said. “It was pretty hard to
stay motivated for the season, to feel intense about the games, to
want to go to practice. I just didn’t want to get the balls
out at all.”
Dubbed the “Olympic hangover,” many players who
participate in the Games oftentimes experience a two-week moment of
ecstasy during competition before crumbling back to reality when
they return.
“The Olympics is a big part of your life and then
it’s just over and we kind of felt like we went straight from
the Olympics back to school,” Golda said. “You put all
of your effort, your mind, body and spirit to prepare for this
experience and then there’s a certain sense of relief when
it’s over and then a sense of, “˜What do I do
now?'”
It took her a while to figure that out. But with the playoffs
looming, that answer is becoming more obvious for the team captain.
She realizes that despite the Bruins’ undefeated season,
there is still unfinished business.
“Yeah, we’re undefeated in the regular season, but
we haven’t won the final game yet,” Golda said.
“We haven’t even gotten there yet. We have to win to
prove that we’re the best team in the country and until we do
that, it’s all a bunch of talk.”
Munro’s march
Coming back to UCLA was something Munro struggled with most.
After appearing on The Today Show and the cover of Sports
Illustrated on Campus, everyone recognized her face.
Yet even though she was well-known, Munro was the one who felt
like a stranger.
As a freshman in 2001, she won the NCAA title with
since-departed Bruins Coralie Simmons, Jamie Hipp and Robin
Beauregard.
Aside from Golda, not a single player from her previous UCLA
squad is still playing.
For Munro, coming back to UCLA after a two-year hiatus while
training with the U.S. National Team was an extremely challenging
endeavor.
“The adjustment was very hard for me to leave and equally
as difficult coming back,” Munro said. “The weirdest
thing is that I’ve been the youngest member of every team
I’ve been a part of until this year.”
UCLA coach Adam Krikorian expressed how difficult it has been
for Munro to come back.
“All the eyes are suddenly on her because of what
she’s done over the past two years,” Krikorian said.
“She’s come into a role where it is completely
different. She left as a follower and now automatically becomes a
leader, but Thalia has been able to fill that role.”
It’s taken Munro more than half the season to get
situated, but she has reiterated that the transition has been
easier because of UCLA’s environment.
“The one thing that never ceases to end in the UCLA
program and why I think it is so successful is because we recruit
such amazing people,” she said. “I feel now as I did
before ““ completely lucky to have been in the situation that
I was in to take time off and come back to an extended
family.”
Rising Rulon
The youngest of the three Olympians on this year’s roster,
Rulon has a reserved nature, yet still possesses a lethal demeanor
in the pool.
In her first season two years ago, the 20-year-old out of Point
Loma, Calif., was second on the team in scoring during the
Bruins’ 2003 NCAA Championship run.
After returning to the Bruins, just less than one year removed,
Rulon has made her presence felt even more this season.
Rulon is leading the Bruins in three of the four possible
statistical categories this season, nearly doubling her numbers
from her freshman campaign.
Although she credits her Olympic experience for giving her
confidence and tenacity, deciding to even try out for the Olympic
team was never clear cut, especially after realizing what she would
have to sacrifice. Rulon left school in middle of fall quarter in
2003 in hopes of earning a spot, even though her spot on the roster
was far from guaranteed.
“I was really hesitant to leave,” Rulon said.
“I was having a good time at school. It was a good setup and
taking six months off of school in a redshirt year, with no
sureness you’re going to make the team was hard.”
Despite hearing the stories of how demanding and rigorous the
workouts would be, Rulon elected to give it a shot. She impressed
former UCLA coach and current Team USA men’s water polo coach
Guy Baker and earned a spot on the Olympic roster at the beginning
of the following year.
Making the team was arguably one of the easier tasks Rulon
faced. Training for it was the hard part.
“Water polo from January to August was my job and my life
for seven, eight months,” Rulon said. “You had to work
your ass off till you were tired and then you would still be
training.”
Validation
Even though each of the players left under different
circumstances and have returned to unfamiliar environments and
emotions, Golda, Munro and Rulon have been able to adapt.
“They are all in different phases in their lives and
athletic careers, and at the same time they’ve joined
together to come back to school here to help us win a
championship,” Krikorian said. “All three of them have
a burning desire to win a championship.”
And because of their play the Bruins boast an undefeated record
(27-0, 12-0 MPSF) and have been ranked No. 1 for exactly three
months.
Six games remain in UCLA’s path to the NCAA title and each
of the three Olympians understands what it takes to get to the next
level. Each has been a member of a championship team, but the most
recent memory was their third-place finish in Athens, Greece.
Just 16 days remain for them to gain a sense of vindication,
another chance to be champions.
But when it comes down to it, winning the NCAA Championship
isn’t nearly the same as winning gold.
Yet for three Olympians, it’s nonetheless one step in the
right direction.
“It doesn’t replace it, but I feel I would have some
closure with that whole situation,” Golda said. “I feel
like all three of us came back and we helped our team finish
something we kind of started already.”