Anna Espar Llaquet (born 8 January 1993) is a Spanish

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 won the gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona. She also won the silver medal at the

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and

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

College career

Espar joined the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

women's water polo team in 2012. As a Freshman she was named to the ACWPC All-America First Team, All-MPSF First Team,"All-MPSF Women's Water Polo"
mpsports.org May 1, 2013 MPSF All-Newcomer Team and MPSF Player of the Week on 25 February after scoring 8 goals in her first major tournament as a Trojan. In 2013, she won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

in the longest match in championship game history. Espar scored the winning goal in the third sudden-death overtime period.

International career

Espar played on the Spain national team which won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She scored 15 goals and was named to the Olympic All-Star Team. In 2012 Espar was named Best European Female Water Polo Player by the LEN. Espar joined the Sidney Uni Lions women's water polo team in 2017 winning the Australian League and ending with an unprecedented undefeated season for the Lions (23 wins and a draw in 24 matches). Espar was also named to the 2017 NWPL All Star Team. Espar also played on the Spanish national team which won the silver at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She scored again 15 goals and was named to the Olympic All-Star Team for the second time in her career.

Family

Espar's younger sister,

Clara Clara may refer to: Organizations * CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization * Clara.Net, a European ISP * Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium People * Clara (given name), a feminine gi ...

, is also a professional water polo player.

International competitions

* 2011 FINA Junior World Championships, Trieste, Italy, 1st place. * 2012 Olympic Games, London, United Kingdom, 2nd place. * 2013 FINA World Championships, Barcelona, Spain, 1st place. * 2013 FINA Junior World Championships, Volos, Greece, 2nd place. * 2014 European Championship, Budapest, Hungary. 1st place. * 2014 FINA World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, 3rd place. * 2016 FINA World League, Shanghai, China, 2nd place. * 2017 FINA World Championships, Budapest, Hungary, 2nd place. * 2018 LEN Europa Cup, Pontevedra, Spain, 3rd place. * 2018 Mediterranean Games, Tarragona, Spain, 1st place. * 2018 European Championship, Barcelona, Spain, 3rd place. * 2019 FINA World Championships, Gwangju, South Korea, 2nd place. * 2020 European Championship, Budapest, Hungary. 1st place. * 2020 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 2nd place.

References

External links