Anikó Pelle (born 28 September 1978) is a Hungarian and Italian

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player who played for the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

from 1999 to 2002, and the Hungary women's national team in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece. In 2000, Pelle received the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation's top women's collegiate water polo player. Anikó Pelle was

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

's top offensive threat as a 1999 freshman, scoring a team-high 52 goals, leading to

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors. With a 3.44 GPA, Pelle made the 1999 American Water Polo Coaches Association All-Academic team. After recording a team-leading 64 goals as a sophomore in 2000, she earned the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation's top female water polo player. In her 2001 junior season, she was second on the team with 81 goals and again earned All-America honors. Pelle set a school record at USC as a 2002 senior with 254 career goals. Pelle graduated from USC with a degree in business. Pelle has played with the Hungary national team since 1995, with various club teams in Europe, and participated in several

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

World and European Championships. She has placed second twice and third three times at the Hungarian championships, and was the top scorer in 1998. Pelle's 13 tournament goals, 3 in the final game, led her national team to the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the women's 2005 World Water Polo Championship in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada. Pelle was among the first of an increasing number of international players competing in U.S. collegiate women's water polo. Because of water polo's increased popularity globally, the influence of international coaches like USC's Jovan Vavic (of the former Yugoslavia) and Canadian Michel Roy at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, and the perks of attending an American college, international players are attracted to the premier U.S. colleges. She is friends with former U.S. Olympic team member and silver medalist, Bernice Orwig. She switched to representing Italy and competed for them at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing in 7th place.

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USC team bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelle, Aniko 1978 births Living people Hungarian female water polo players Italian female water polo players Olympic water polo players for Hungary Olympic water polo players for Italy Water polo players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo 21st-century Hungarian sportswomen 21st-century Italian sportswomen European Water Polo Championship medalists Water polo players from Budapest

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