- An American water polo player punched his Australian opponent
- Incident occurred in Olympic Games quarter-finals
- But fans don’t believe the American was wrong
The US men’s water polo team defied all odds to pull off a stunning quarterfinal victory over Australia at the Olympic Games.
The Americans had just six players in the water after Johnny Hooper was sent off after a threatening moment seven minutes into the game.
Hooper gave Australian Chaz Poot a hard punch in the face. This punch was captured on video.
Not only was Hooper sidelined for the rest of the game, but the Americans also had a goal disallowed because the incident occurred during an attacking play.
Instead of a 2-2 draw, the Australians were awarded a penalty and Pavillard scored the decisive goal, making the score 3-1.
Furious water polo fans took to social media en masse on Wednesday to say that Hooper had been given a hard time as his rival held his head under water.
“The Australia player clearly had his head under water and should have been sent off early,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “Shame on the referee.”
Another said: ‘I was shocked by that call. At the very least both boys should have been thrown out.’
An American water polo player was fired after punching an opponent
Johnny Hooper got his marching orders after the red mist moment
“So you can hold a guy’s head under water but he’s waving his arms around trying to breathe, is that a problem?” a third fan angrily shouted at X. “That makes no sense at all.”
“I’m not a nationalist, but the US is getting screwed by the referees in this game.”
The US came back from a 5-2 deficit to decide to end the match on penalties, but they kept their composure and won the deciding game 4-3.
