Few athletes get to the Olympics. Seal Beach’s own Rachel Fattal, a Griffin and Bruin alum, is going to compete for Olympic gold for the third time in Paris. The Seal Beach native’s parents are Ron and Maria Fattal. Her brother is Ryan.
The women’s water polo preliminary round will be held Saturday, July 27, according to usawaterpolo.org.
Fattal and the USA Women’s Water Polo Team will pursue a gold medal. Fattal already has two gold medals to her name, having earned them in 2016 and 2020 (actually 2021 because those Olympics were delayed by the pandemic). The USA Women’s Water Polo Team has three gold medals.
Fattal plays the “attacker” position. That was her position in 2016 and 2020.
She was 22 when she won her first gold medal. She’s now 30 and a professional athlete.
“She joined the Senior National Team following her MVP performance at the 2013 FINA Junior World Championships,” according to usawaterpolo.org.
The site describes her as “One of the strongest attackers, has a terrific outside shot.”
She “tallied 12 goals at 2024 World Aquatics World Championships in Doha…Notched 21 goals at 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago,” according to usawaterpolo.org.
The USA Women’s Water Polo Team recently picked up two victories against Italy, according to usawaterpolo.org.
The team is scheduled to face off against Hungary at UC Berkeley at 6 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Tuesday, July 9. (The results won’t be available until after the Sun’s editorial deadline.)
As reported in 2021, Fattal originally planned to be a gymnast but found her bliss playing water polo.
In 2016, her mom, Maria Fattal told the Sun that Rachel was CIF Player of the Year in Water Polo 2012, and that she swam in the CIF Swim Finals in the Relays 2012.
The Seal Beach City Council honored Fattal in September 2016. She was inducted into the Los Alamitos Unified School District’s Hall of Fame in 2019.
Seal Beach has a history of producing aquatic Olympians: Craig “Chi” Kredell was on the USA Men’s Water Polo team in 2000. (Kredell is the son of the late Ronald “Chi” Kredell.) Haley Ishimatsu was a diver during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The late Pat McCormick won the gold medal for diving in 1952 and 1956.
