A look at Ashleigh Johnson, a powerhouse of women's water polo
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 August 2024
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For the team's star goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson, these games have been something of a reunion. She has played professionally on both Greek and Italian teams. Now that she's in Paris, she's competing against some of her former teammates.
She's the first Black woman to play on the U.S. women's water polo team. She made 80 saves at the Tokyo Olympics alone — more than any other goalkeeper in the women's and men's tournaments. She's considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
So how far will Johnson go in these Olympics?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | On Wednesday in Paris, the U.S. women's water polo team faced off against Italy, |
| 0:06.0 | and the players proved once again what a dominant force they are in the pool, |
| 0:11.0 | crushing Italy 10 to 3. |
| 0:13.3 | The team is two for one so far. |
| 0:15.0 | They were bested by Spain earlier in the week, but handily beat Greece and Italy. |
| 0:20.7 | And for the team's star goalkeeper, Ashley Johnson, these games have been something of a reunion. |
| 0:26.0 | She's played professionally on both Greek and Italian teams, |
| 0:30.0 | and here in Paris, she's competing against some of her former teammates. |
| 0:34.0 | It's definitely like catching up with old friends. When we're in the game it's all edge |
| 0:38.0 | but they still get the jump on me and so do I like for them. |
| 0:42.0 | When we caught up with Johnson last month... jump on me and so do I like for them. |
| 0:42.7 | When we caught up with Johnson last month |
| 0:45.0 | at the US women's training pool in Long Beach, California, |
| 0:48.5 | Johnson was feeling good because the US team |
| 0:51.3 | had just beat Italy in another exhibition game the day before. |
| 0:55.2 | Score 14 to 5 and head coach Adam Krakorian wanted to review some video footage of the game. |
| 1:03.0 | Coach is gonna only show us the bad place. |
| 1:06.0 | We're not going to see the good, but it's good. |
| 1:10.0 | Inside the team room, Coach McC tabbed through play after play after play. |
| 1:17.0 | Oh we muff this one yeah that's a good good I need to hold X2 as well though. |
| 1:24.0 | Yeah, you might have had six goals, but I'm going to remember this one. |
| 1:28.0 | I was like, penalty. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.