2024 paris Olympic Games: Why water polo success means everything to Sharks’ Milos Maksimovic

Milos Maksimovic only moved to Australia in 2023 to take up a chance to play in the domestic water polo league. Now, he’s scoring Olympic hat-tricks in a Sharks side eyeing Olympics gold.

Milos Maksimovic is finally living out his Olympic dream for the Aussie Sharks. Picture: Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Less than two years ago, Milos Maksimovic had never played a game of water polo for Australia and still had aspirations of representing Serbia on the biggest stage.

But this week the 30-year-old has been pivotal for the Sharks, including scoring a hat-trick in their tense 9-8 win over France, as he finally lives out his Olympic dream.

“At the moment, that means everything,” Maksimovic said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here and with this team. I’m so proud to play with these guys.

“I knew I made the right decision after a couple of games with the guys because it’s amazing to be in this team.

“It was a long journey. In some moments I had a tough time. But with amazing support from the team, the coaches, my family and friends, I managed to come here and I’m now trying to give back by playing and training hard, and give back to the team and Australia.”

Maksimovic celebrates after Australia secured a vital win over host nation, France. Picture: Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Having spent over a decade playing in leagues across Europe, a move in 2022 to play with Cronulla in the Australian Water Polo League was the start of his path to represent the Sharks.

The team is quickly becoming one of the Australian stories of the Games, defeating Serbia and hosts France in back-to-back nail-biting encounters thanks to their incredible defence. They even received a standing ovation when they returned to the athlete’s village.

But all eyes are on their next tough task, a match-up with reigning Olympic bronze medallists, Hungary.

“I think we have something special in our team,” Maksimovic said.

“We know how hard we work for this. Maybe in previous big competitions, we didn’t play as good, but we knew at one point it would all come together.

“The last two and a half years, we have spoken about being the best blocking team in the world. We know that we can win a game with our attack, but with our defence, we can win championships.

“I think we now have momentum. So, it’s amazing to have two wins in a row but now all the focus moves to Hungary and having another good performance.”

Originally published as 2024 paris Olympic Games: Why water polo success means everything to Sharks’ Milos Maksimovic