Dutch captain Sabrina van der Sloot fights for equal rights in water polo

Straits Times

3 days ago

Sabrina van der Sloot is not just the captain for the Netherlands women's water polo team, but also a strong advocate for gender parity in the game.
SINGAPORE – 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.'
Van der Sloot shared that women's water polo players who have won Olympic medals 'are lucky if they can earn €20,000 (S$29,800) a year', which is what some non-national players make in the men's game that can see annual salaries go up to six figures for star players.
Citing how the Paris 2024 women's water polo final attracted a sell-out 15,000-strong crowd at the La Defense Arena, she said: 'It's not true that the men's game is more spectacular. More people are watching the men's game because they give it more time on TV and put more money in it.
'But if you are a real water polo lover, the women's game is more tactical and something you can also enjoy watching.'
With just Italy's Alessia Ferrari and Spain's Marta Cabanas officiating in the men's competition at the July 11-Aug 3 WCH, van der Sloot also hopes to see more female referees across the board.
The Olympic bronze medallist, who has also won WCH gold (2023), silver (2015) and bronze (2022), said: 'Gender equality should apply in all aspects of the game. It's not just about the money, it's also about the people who make the decisions.
'It's not true that the women's game is easier to whistle. Maybe it's not as fast, but we have swimsuits which opponents can grab, so it's harder to make good decisions.'
She added: 'Above all, we must promote water polo more on a global level, and go to countries where the sport is not so big to give them the support and infrastructure to make it grow there.'
Nevertheless, she acknowledged there have been improvements over the years, as more clubs are taking women's water polo more seriously, and her Spanish club Sabadell try to 'give the women's team the same things as the men's'.
WCH 2025 also offers the same prize pool of US$415,000 (S$533,000) for both the men and women's competitions.
At the Tokyo Games in 2021, South Africa women's coach Delaine Mentoor became the first woman to lead a water polo team at the Olympics, and three years later, Bec Rippon became the first female coach to guide a team to an Olympic water polo medal when she led Australia's women to silver at Paris 2024.
Rippon, an Australian, said: 'The movement to get women's water polo in the Olympic Games, that was really led strongly by women everywhere, but particularly in Australia.
'People I know, and myself included, protesting and trying to push for what deserved as a sport, and to look where it's come now... It's just a privilege to be part of it.'
Meanwhile, in the other play-off matches on July 17, world No. 14 Japan stunned 11th-ranked Britons 23-10 to reach the last eight for the first time. The only Asian team in the quarter-final slate will take on the third-ranked Americans for a place in the semi-finals.
Calling it a 'big, big success', Japanese player Ai Sunabe said they will need more speedy swims to score against the US, adding: 'We have to make sure we can score more goals.'
World No. 9 China, however, lost 13-11 to seventh-ranked Italy, who booked a quarter-final against world No. 4 Hungary. World Cup winners and fifth-ranked Greece thumped 10th-ranked France 23-9 to set up a last-eight meeting with world No. 6 Australia.
In the 13th-16th semi-finals, hosts Singapore endured a slow start when they trailed 3-12 at the start of the third quarter, although they ended strong to keep pace with Argentina before losing 9-18. They will meet South Africa, who were beaten 16-6 by Croatia, on July 19 in a battle to avoid the wooden spoon.
Koh Ting Ting, who scored a team-high three goals, said: 'We tried to get as many exclusions (when a player fouls and has to sit out the game for a period of time) as we could and take advantage of the man up. Our team did well from the third quarter as we gathered ourselves, made space for each other and took the opportunity to shoot.'