Tokyo Calympian: Kitty Lynn Joustra, Water Polo, Netherlands
Tokyo Calympian: Kitty Lynn Joustra, Water Polo, Netherlands
The Cal rising senior will be playing in her first Olympic Games
Six Cal Women’s Water Polo current players or alumni will represent four countries at the Tokyo Games. The two players who should be back for the Cal Bears are Canadian Calympian Emma Wright and Dutch Calympian Kitty Lynn Joustra.
While both players took the 2020 season off in anticipation of the Olympic Games, Wright also sat out the 2021 campaign while Joustra used the recent collegiate season as a way to rehab from an injury early in 2021.
As a talented offensive player, Joustra should be able to register stats in the box score of most Dutch matches.
Kitty Lynn Joustra
Sport: Water Polo
Nation: Netherlands
Hometown: Purmerend, Netherlands
Olympic Appearance: 1st
Age: 23 (January 11, 1998)
Cal connection: Cal Rising Senior
Cal accomplishments: Kitty Lynn Joustra plays the center position just 2m in front of the net, making her the central point of attack in scoring goals and drawing exclusions. She sat out the 2020 season in anticipation of the Tokyo Olympics but returned to the Bears in 2021.
A clear highlight for Joustra was the 2018 Big Splash when she scored 4 goals, including the OT Golden Goal, to give the Bears a victory over then No.1 Stanford.
After a belated start to the 2021 season, Joustra scored 27 goals for Cal Women’s Water Polo in 14 matches. The top scorer for Cal in 2021 was another Dutch player in Brigit Mulder but she could not yet crack the Dutch national team who are deeper in the wing position.
Kitty Lynn Joustra has played with the Dutch Senior National Team since the 2017 FINA World Championships. Her best result was the Gold in the 2018 European Championships in Barcelona.
The Dutch team has not qualified for the Olympics since 2008, when they won actually won the Gold in Beijing.
Below is the Team Netherlands roster for this Olympics.
Maud Megens has been the clear Dutch leading scorer in their recent tournaments like the 2019 World Aquatics Championships (where Spanish Calympian Roser Tarrago earned the tournament MVP award for leading Spain to a Silver behind heavy favorite USA). Iris Wolves is the more experienced center on the squad.
Behind powerhouse USA, there is a bit of parity where several teams could contend for the medals. Spain with 3x Calympian Roser Tarrago and Hungary with 2x Calympian Anna Illes are probably the better teams than the Netherlands squad with Joustra, but any of them could be in contention for the Silver and Bronze.
Best of luck to Kitty Lynn and her Dutch team in Tokyo!
Women’s Water Polo Schedule:
Women’s Water Polo will run from July 24-August 7 at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center.
Netherlands is in Group A with Australia, South Africa, Spain, and Canada, the latter two teams will also have Cal alumni.
The times listed below are in Japanese Standard Time.
Mon 26 July
Netherlands vs. Australia
Wed 28 July
Netherlands vs. Spain
Fri 30 July
Netherlands vs. South Africa
Sun 1 Aug.
Netherlands vs. Canada
After the preliminary group play, the top 4 teams in the group will be seeded and placed in the single-elimination knockout stage starting with the Quarterfinals.
GO BEARS!
GO BEARS!