Among all the people that have an effect on an Olympic athlete’s career, there always seems to be one who stands out from the rest. On Saturday at the Paris Aquatics Centre, male water polo players from Greece, Croatia, Spain, and Japan revealed who that person was.
We asked seven players to tell us who had the most impact on their water polo careers. Surprisingly, no one mentioned a coach. Find out whom they identified instead.
Seiya Adachi (Japan # 2), left wing, age 29, three-time Olympian
“My older brother, Miharu. If he didn’t play water polo, I never would have started. My brother and I went to different high schools. When our schools played against each other, we always matched up. He played right wing and I was left wing, so we always fought. In those days, I was much smaller than him. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the national team. Now he plays for a social club in Chiba, near Tokyo, and works for a corporation. He’s not in Paris, but my mother, Junko, is here. She coaches swimming in Gifu, near Nagoya.”
Kai Inoue (Japan # 5), right wing, age 17
“My dad, he inspires me. I love him. Takeshi Inoue. He loves water polo more than me. He really showed me how to love the sport and how to connect with the ball and the water. That’s something I really treasure. Water polo is pretty much my life.
“Funny story, the first word I ever spoke was ‘ball.’ I think he was happy about it, but my mom was like: Aww, it wasn’t ‘mommy.’ My dad always gave me a ball wherever I went. My three older siblings all played water polo and my dad always took me to their practices. My dad was in the TWPC [FINA’s technical committee] so I went to world championships in Italy and Hungary and got a lot of experience from that. I grew up in Los Angeles. I’m in public school in Japan now. I’m 17. This is my first Olympics. It’s awesome.
All my family is here: my grandma, my mom, my parents, my brothers, everyone. I love my family. We [Team Japan] have four losses now, but we have one more game. I’m gonna show them all I got for my last game here.”
Unai Biel Lara (Spain #11), defender, age 21
“Biggest influence? No doubt, it’s Felipe Perrone. He plays same position as me. He’s playing with us now, and since I was a kid I idolized him. Now I have the privilege of playing with him, learning from him every day. With the numbers of years he already played, it’s amazing to see how he trains and his style of play – how he can modify defense, see every player in the pool. He helps me in many ways mentally, and in technical ways, he knows all. For example, he told me how it’s better to shoot from a higher point and how I need to work my legs – keep them moving to be high in the water. Because of physics, it’s harder to stop for the goalkeeper to stop [the shot]. He always reminds me to work my legs. Also, in defense, how can I be tough with a defender and look at the ball at the same time. [When he retires,] I will always remember his approach to every training, to every game, and how he always respected everyone and everything.
Eduardo Lorrio (Spain # 13), goalkeeper, age 30
“First, I have to credit my family because they transmit the values to be a good person and teammate. In water polo, I watched Daniel Lopez-Pinedo, the goalkeeper of the national team for 13, 14 years. I was taking so many things during his career. On the national team, we had more than eight years together. He was my reference in water polo: his technique, how he moved in the net, how he prepared for matches, and how he always tried to be happy and enjoy during the matches because it’s a pleasure to play. In the net, he was very fast, always looking the ball without losing the atmosphere; that was one of the best parts of Daniel. And when he saved some balls, he celebrated. I saw him very happy. Now, he is the sport director of Barceloneta, the best team of Spain. I play in the rival club, Sabadell. We’re still in contact and his daughter swims in my club.”
Emmanouil Zerdevas (Greece #1), goalkeeper, age 26, 2020 Olympic silver medalist
“The biggest influence, I would say, is Josep Pavic. He used to be the goalkeeper of Croatia [in three Olympics, winning 2012 gold and 2016 silver] and Olympiacos. Olympiacos is my team right now. Besides the technique skills that he showed me as a teammate, I like his mentality and the way he used to see the sport. He enjoyed every minute. He didn’t do it as a job. He also used to be very explosive and fast and he didn’t like the static exercises so he used to swim a lot, not do many reps, and was fast and strong. I try to copy him because he used to be the best.”
Toni Popadic (Croatia #13), goalkeeper, age 29
“I was inspired by the golden generation of my club where I grew up, Jug Dubrovnik: Niksa Dobud, Sandro Sukno, Frano Vican, the many legends that are born in my city. It’s the sport No. 1 in my city. As the golden generation of Croatian water polo, their imprint on the game and their passion, that’s how I fell in love with water polo. They won Olympic gold in London [in 2012]. It’s very difficult [to copy what they did]; they were very talented.”
Ioannis Fountoulis, (Greece # 5), captain and defender, age 36, four-time Olympian
“I was always intrigued with big players from all the national teams: Manuel Estiarte, Tamas Kasas.
On the island where I was born, Chios, I entered the pool and I never left. My father, my brother were involved in water polo and I followed their footsteps. There was one Russian player, an Olympic medalist, Dmitry Apanasenko, who came on our team. He was one of the biggest water polo players in the world and our team went from 10th position to national championship finals, so all the island was crazy for the team. Eventually, I left all these idols and I focused on myself and what I can do in the sport. You can get information from all the coaches you meet. The competition inside the team will make you better and work harder. But this is my personal advice: focus on yourself and try to be the best you can.”