Jewish water polo star Sienna Green won a silver medal with Australia on Saturday after her country lost 11-9 to Spain in the gold medal match.
Green, making her Olympic debut at 19, is the youngest woman to represent Australia in women’s water polo. The centre-back appeared in all seven of Australia’s matches, playing an average of just under 15 minutes and scoring three goals. Australia, which won gold in 2000, won six straight games in Paris, including a 14-13 semi-final victory over the United States, before losing to Spain.
Both 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 at the former.
The Mosman, Australia native plays at the University of California, Los Angeles and received an honorable mention All-American from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches in 2023, as well as an award for academic achievement. Last season, she scored 39 goals in 29 games as UCLA made it to the semifinals of the national championship.
Green also won an Australian Water Polo League title with the University of Sydney in 2021 and captained the Australian U18 women’s national team before being promoted to the women’s national team in 2022.
Green is at least the fourth Jewish Australian to win a medal at the Paris Games, joining two-time bronze medallist in the canoe walk, Jemima Montag, and sisters Jessica and Noemie Fox, who each won gold in the canoe slalom.
