Jewish water polo star Sienna Green wins silver with Australia

Green, whose father played in the Maccabiah Games, scored three goals during the Olympic women’s water polo tournament

Sienna Green during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Australia and Spain at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Aug. 10, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)

By Jacob Gurvis August 11, 2024

(JTA) — Jewish water polo star Sienna Green won a silver medal Saturday with Australia, as her country fell 11-9 to Spain in the gold medal match.

Green, who is making her Olympics debut at 19 years old, is the youngest woman to represent Australia in women’s water polo. The centre back appeared in all seven of Australia’s games, averaging just under 15 minutes of playing time and scoring three goals. Australia, which won gold in 2000, won six straight games in Paris, including a 14-13 semifinal win over the United States, before losing to Spain.

Both of Green’s parents are former water polo players. Her father Antony represented Australia at the 1989 and 1993 Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning a bronze medal in the former.

The Mosman, Australia, native plays at the University of California, Los Angeles, and earned an All-American honorable mention from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches in 2023, as well as an award for her academic excellence. She scored 39 goals in 29 games last season as UCLA made it to the semifinals in the national championship.

Green also won an Australian Water Polo League title with the University of Sydney in 2021 and captained Australia’s national U18 women’s team before being promoted to the national women’s team in 2022.

Green is at least the fourth Jewish Aussie to medal at the Paris Games, joining two-time bronze winning race walker Jemima Montag and sisters Jessica and Noemie Fox, who each won gold in canoe slalom events.

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