U.S. Women’s Water Polo Team Using Taylor Swift for Inspiration at Olympics: ‘Want to Be Like Her’
United States women’s water polo is going for its fourth consecutive gold medal at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, and the team has drawn inspiration from Taylor Swift to help get it done.
It started in May when the team flew out to Paris for an Olympic test event at the Paris Aquatic Centre, home of the Olympic group stage matches. At the same time, Swift just happened to be performing her Eras Tour at Paris’ La Défense Arena, which will host the last three rounds of the Olympic men’s and women’s water polo tournaments.
The group got concert tickets through national team manager Ally Beck, who reached out to Swift’s representatives to ask if they could look around and get a feel for the arena while they were there.
Swift’s team agreed to that and more. The singer herself invited the team backstage before the show, gifting them VIP tickets for the night and Eras Tour merch.
The team attended the concert and reflected afterward on what it would be like to win a gold medal in that same arena.
“We talked about it after (the concert),” team star Maggie Steffens said. “We had a team meeting of, like, if we get the chance to play in La Défense Arena, we want to be like her. We want to be able to love the pressure and be able to perform and have fun and enjoy that moment and make the most of it.”
“They went beyond our wildest expectations,” Beck told the Los Angeles Times.
The team came away inspired by Swift’s energy over the course of more than three hours.
“I thought to myself, ‘This is exactly what we want to bring to the pool,’” team coach Adam Krikorian said. “What better way to get in the right mindset and to experience that energy and that joy and that love. Because those are the values that we want to play with.”
Steffens agreed, adding, “As badass and powerful of a woman as she is, for us to be able to see that in person was pretty magical.”
The Olympic women’s water polo championship will take place on August 10, the same day Swift is scheduled to perform in Vienna, just a couple hours away by plane. She has a standing invitation to the final if the United States makes it, as expected.
“I’ll be on the record,” Krikorian said. “Taylor, you have a front-row seat.”
