Mosman water polo star Hanna Buckling makes Stingers squad for Rio Olympics

HANNAH Buckling will wear cap number three in Rio as centre back for the Aussie Stingers, the women’s water polo team.

Mosman’s Hannah Buckling is bound for Rio.

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SHARING the excitement of making your first Olympic team while home alone with the family tabby is far from the fanfare of the opening ceremony, but Mosman’s Hannah Buckling did exactly that.

“The cat was pretty excited,” she laughed.

“I was sitting at home very excited by myself; everyone else was at work.”

Buckling, 24, will wear cap number three in Rio as centre back for the Aussie Stingers, the women’s water polo team.

Buckling shared the news of her selection with the family’s pet cat.

Her water polo career started as a 13-year-old at Wenona. Buckling was on the 2012 Olympic squad but narrowly missed out on final selection.

She said her family was overwhelmed when they heard she was going to Rio.

“I called dad and he was a bit teary, but just so excited and so proud,” Buckling said.

“My brother was happy, very stoked I think.”

What made the good news all the more memorable was the person who gave Buckling the phone call.

“You’re never certain about selection to be honest,” she said. “I was still so, so nervous waiting to receive the phone call.

Buckling in action for the Stingers during last year’s FINA World Championships.

“It was pretty special because our coach Greg McFadden organised our equivalent cap number from the gold medal-winning team from the 2000 Sydney Olympics to give us the call.

“Gail Miller called me. It was very humbling and very exciting.

“It was amazing hearing it from someone who has been there before and succeeded in what anyone could only dream about, winning a gold medal at the Olympics for Australia.”

Buckling said the Stingers wanted a golden finish.

Gold medal winner Gail Miller, pictured here during the 2000 Olympics, broke the good news.

“We’re going for gold,” she said.

“We’re really going to give it a good crack and I believe we have the team to do it.

“We’ve just got to work hard over the next few months.”

Buckling said their biggest competition in the pool would be the United States. “We have an ongoing rivalry with the USA,” she said.

Buckling will continue playing water polo for the Sydney University Lions in the National League and will start a degree in medicine after Rio.