Sabrina Speaks Up For Equality

Dutch captain sees it as her duty to fight for a better future for women in water polo

- David Lee

It may seem unthinkable now, but it took women's water polo 100 years to make it to the Olympics since the sport made its debut at Paris 1900 as a men-only event.

Even then, there were only six teams in the inaugural women's competition at Sydney 2000, which was half of the 12 teams who competed in the men's tournament.

The number of women's teams increased to eight from 2004 to 2016, then 10 in the 2020 and 2024 editions, before finally reaching parity at Los Angeles 2028.

But the fight for gender equality in the sport goes on, with Netherlands captain Sabrina van der Sloot one of the most vocal advocates.

Over the years, she has voiced out against salary differences between the men and women's game at club level, and fought for more female representation among referees of the men's game.

After the second-ranked Dutch beat world No. 15 New Zealand 14-9 on July 17 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre to set up a World Aquatics Championships (WCH) women's water polo quarter-final against Olympic champions Spain on July 19, the 34-year-old said: "We have been in the game for so many years. If we don't speak up, who else is going to do it?

"It's our duty to stand up for the girls who come after us, to give them a better place to play water polo on a professional level. That they will get something back to work with, after putting so much of themselves in this sport and not retire with no money like us."