I've achieved so much through the opportunities
that water polo has given me.
I think it's important to understand
being in a space where you're not the majority.
Your individuality is what sets you apart.
And I love it.
(GAME/BREAKERS)
(ASHLEIGH JOHNSON, GOLD MEDAL WATER POLO RIO 2016)
(DOB 12 SEPTEMBER 1994)
My name is Ashleigh Johnson
and I won my gold medal in water polo.
I feel like I didn't really choose water polo.
I kind of just fell into it and I loved it.
(PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY)
I chose Princeton because
I wanted to go to a school that put academics first.
Having Chelsea on my team here at Princeton is really fun.
Just being able to share it with my sister
is a great experience for me.
We got involved in swimming and water polo because
my mom wanted us to have something to do in the summers.
When we were younger, my mom put us in a swim programme.
The choice was between swimming or water polo,
so we, of course, chose water polo.
We swam every day of the week
and then played water polo after swim practice on Fridays,
and we loved it.
I just really like the teamwork aspect of it
and competing in a group.
I think that that's the most fun part of the game
and I just get lost in it and I love it.
When she committed and came here,
first time she got in the water,
I just couldn't stop smiling, like, "Oh, my God.
"This girl is legit."
A kid like Ashleigh you don't have to teach.
It's like with Michael Jordan.
She knows the play before it even happens.
When I first talked to Ashleigh about coming onto the team,
the sell wasn't to be an Olympian
and it wasn't to win a gold medal -
it was what a great role model she would be.
Ashleigh's changed the sport of water polo by showing
that there is an opportunity for people like her.
She is an African-American woman in a sport
that doesn't have a lot of African-American women.
So, she's changing the game on multiple levels.
I took a year off to train
and compete with the Olympic team.
My focus was to grow as a player,
just to open myself up to a new experience.
I think one of the bigger challenges for her
was replacing an iconic figure.
She was replacing Betsy Armstrong,
who many thought was the greatest goalkeeper
of all time,
someone who the world, and certainly our team,
had a tremendous amount of respect and love for.
I was very scared going out to California
and just giving up everything that I knew,
but I was willing to shed my fears
and just get to know everyone
and it was an amazing experience.
I know it was challenging for her,
but wherein lies the challenge lies an opportunity
and she seized that opportunity.
She was someone that we could not only trust
to block the ball, but she was someone
that we could trust to lead our defence.
(OLYMPIC GAMES, RIO 2016)
Walking in the opening ceremonies was definitely
one of my favourite moments in the Olympics.
It was such a special moment.
As the first black woman to represent
the US Olympic team in water polo,
it was amazing to just have that experience.
It's just really cool to break through that
kind of invisible barrier that
you don't even think about until you're there.
2016, many people would say,
was the greatest water polo team of all time.
We played the game as beautifully
as I've ever seen the game be played before.
It was truly surreal, you know?
To think that that's one of your kids
playing at the highest level and getting the gold medal,
I was just so happy for her.
I was speechless, I was so happy.
It was, like, unreal.
Like, growing up, we watched the Olympics every four years.
We gather around, we watch every game.
It was crazy to be there, and, like, have my sister
being the person that everyone at home is watching.
I couldn't even, like, put it into words.
It was kind of surreal, but at the same time,
it was amazing.
Every goal they scored, every block they made,
it was, like, "Oh, my God!"
- One, two, three... - USA!
And the first swim-off of the final,
it's the Italians in the blue caps,
USA in the white.
Brilliant save from point-blank range.
You'd have almost put money on the Italians
scoring a goal there, but she's made a stunning save.
And they can't find a way past her.
She's having a stunning game in goal for the USA.
And they're turning into one of the most successful teams
in, I reckon, history, you would say.
You look at Johnson right now, she's glowing.
She's in her moment. This is probably one of the greatest
moments of performance that she will enjoy.
A gold medal performance by the USA!
Gold in Rio.
USA!
As I was stepping on that podium,
it was a kind of indescribable moment.
Ashleigh Johnson.
Going to celebrate our gold medal was
an incredible experience.
It was just amazing.
(ASHLEIGH WAS NAMED THE TOP GOALKEEPER AT RIO 2016
(WITH 51 SAVES AND A SAVE PERCENTAGE OF 64.5%)
My role on this Olympic team
was a very important step in my mission
to be a role model for young black girls
and other people who want to play this sport.
She's doing things that the sport of water polo,
specifically women's water polo, has never seen before.
We haven't had that many African-Americans in our sport
and the more that they can see someone like Ashleigh
do what she can do,
the more that we can get more African-Americans
involved in our sport.
Going to the White House to celebrate our gold medal
was an incredible experience.
It was really cool to meet President Obama.
He and Michelle Obama were so genuine and so warm.
It was just amazing.
This sport needs role models.
And it needs them in different communities
and people that have different backgrounds.
Ashleigh saw it first-hand in the lead-up to the Rio games.
She would travel to different countries,
different states around America,
and have boys and girls of colour come up to her
and tell her, "I'm keeping an eye on you. I'm watching you,
"Number 13, cos you inspire me and you let me know that
"the road you're taking is one I can also travel."
And now people in different communities,
that water polo hadn't reached in the past,
can look at someone like Ashleigh Johnson and say,
"I can do that same exact thing."
My senior thesis is looking at how people of colour
are perceived in spaces where diversity is a goal.
I think that's really important as an athlete
and as a person.
It's just an amazing opportunity for me
and I want to push that opportunity
to get everything that I can out of it.
Being an ambassador for young black girls
and being able to be a role model and step up
and be a representation of
what black people could be in this sport,
what people of colour could be in swimming.
I want to represent the people who look up to me.
It's just an amazing opportunity for me
and an incredible experience.
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
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