Abby Andrews and Gabriella Palm aim for Tokyo Olympic Games with Australian water polo team

Our potential Olympians revealed: Brisbane pair Abby Andrews and Gabriella Palm are young guns of the Australian water polo team and both find themselves a finger nail off becoming Olympians next year in Tokyo.

Continuing the series on potential Tokyo Olympic Games athletes the general public may not know, we introduce water polo players Abby Andrews and Gabriella Palm.

Four years ago Australian water polo goalkeeper Gabriella Palm was asked by coaches at the Queensland Academy of Sport to pen her goals leading up to the 2020 Olympics.

At the time Palm had only been in the sport a few years and, being just one of a bunch of promising rookies identified by the QAS, was unsure whether she dare write down the 2020 Games as an ambition.

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“I remember thinking I am going to write down the 2020 Olympics, but I am not sure,’’ the Chelmer resident said.

Chelmer’s Gabi Palm at Fortitude Valley Pool (AAP Image/Renae Droop)

“But I thought I would write it down and it is funny that over the years, with hard work and dedication, that it could become a reality.’’

Not that the Brisbane Barracudas junior became weighed down by a desire to fulfil that Olympic ambition because improving enough to keep competition at bay for her Queensland Thunder and most recently Sydney University positions was pressure enough.

“It (the Olympic goal) was always in the back of my mind but I did not want to think too far ahead,’’ the Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School past student said.

“I just wanted to try and stay in the moment and do everything I could at that time to help that dream become a possibility.

“The Olympics are the dream, but I was just trying to work on every moment and make everything count to make it more of a possibility,’’ added Palm, Australia’s No.1 goalkeeper.

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The Tokyo Olympic Games are also a distinct possibility for Abby Andrews, ironically another elite junior out of Brisbane Girls Grammar and QGSSSA system.

Abby Andrews in action this year. (AAP Image/Richard Walker)

Like Palm, 19-year-old Andrews, from Bardon, had been included in the Australian Olympic squad pending final selection.

Andrews was initially blooded by the national selectors in 2018, but her career really ramped up in late 2019 when the selectors called her back from playing college water polo in the United States to attend Australian training camps.

So impressive was she, the selectors then took her into the January’s Test series against the No. 1 USA side where she further enhanced her reputation against the world’s best.

It has been a steady climb for Palm, who has significantly gathered as much self belief and confidence along the way as she has experience.

And her exposure to training and playing with Australia’s best was clear to observers of the national water polo league where, with the youthful Queensland Thunder outfit, she is a team leader despite her tender age.

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“That experience (playing with Thunder) was so great for my confidence,’’ said Andrews, whose potent left hand goals breached the league’s best defence.

“It is really nice coming back into a younger team where I can take a more senior role.

“And having Bron (triple Olympian Bronwen Knox) has been so good.

“She is pretty much keeping the environment of the national camp, pushing me, encouraging me which is so good.’’

Bardon’s Bronwen Knox, a three-time Olympian, has had a lot to do with the development of Palm and Andrews. (AAP Image/Richard Walker)

And now Andrews finds herself a finger nail from becoming an Olympian alongside Palm.

“Obviously it is not cemented and I still have a lot of work to go and I could peter out tomorrow,’’ said the Indooroopilly State School and Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School alumni.

“But I am prepared for either way. Either way I have improved so much. It is a possibility and has always been my dream.’’