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Matilda Kearns

Water polo player Matilda Kearns made her Olympic debut at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the age of 20.

The Aussie Stingers forward took up water polo in high school and went on to represent Australia at the 2016 and 2018 FINA World Women’s Youth Water Polo Championships, the 2017 FINA World Women’s Junior Water Polo Championships and the 2019 Summer Universiade.

In 2019 Matilda moved to the USA to take up studies at the University of Southern California (USC). The freshman scored two goals on debut for the USC Trojans and earned ACWPC All-Academic honors in her freshman year.

Matilda was then selected into the Aussie Stingers squad and made her senior international debut at the 2019 FINA World League Super Final in Hungary.

Taking a leave of absence from USC in 2020, Matilda returned to Australia to concentrate on her Olympic campaign. She was announced in the Stingers squad of 20 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and was officially selected onto the Australian Team in May 2021.

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