Courtesy of USA Water Polo
Village School graduate and former Highlands resident Johnny Hooper played an integral role in the USA men’s water polo team’s run to the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics—the Americans’ first medal since getting silver in 2008.
The 27-year-old Hooper scored four goals in five group play contests and netted his team’s first goal in the quarterfinals versus Australia before being ejected for throwing a punch. Team USA rallied to win a penalty shootout and Hooper had to sit out the next game, a 10-6 loss to Serbia.
He was back in the pool in the third-place game against Hungary and got Team USA on the scoreboard first less than two minutes into the first quarter. The Americans went on to take the bronze in a shootout 11-8. It was Hooper’s second trip to the Olympics. He helped the USA to sixth place in Tokyo.
Hooper was in the Junior Lifeguard program at Will Rogers Beach before leading Harvard-Westlake High to two CIF water polo titles and being named Division I Player of the Year in 2015. He was an All-American at California, scoring 245 goals for the Golden Bears.
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