Team USA women's water polo star and Danville native Maggie Steffens is looking for her fourth gold medal in Paris, but this time around, the Olympics will be a bit different for her personally.
"I'm a married woman now," Steffens said. "It's been really fun. Bobby, my husband now, has been in my life for over seven years."
The then bride-to-be planned her wedding in Puerto Rico around the Olympics.
"Water polo and qualifying for the Olympics was priority one," Steffens said. "We ended up qualifying one week before my marriage date."
Steffens, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion, is the all-time leading scorer in Olympic women's water polo history.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I still didn't have the passion and love and respect for what this dream is," she said.
That dream requires not only the physical part of the sport, but the mental part, too.
"I feel like a lot of the mental prep has gotten even higher every single year and also team prep," she said. "We play one of the hardest team sports in the world…Why wouldn't I be grateful for every opportunity I get? I think with age that comes a little bit more natural because when's the end, right?"
Steffens doesn’t yet know when the end is.
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But one thing is for sure: she’s hoping for that fourth gold in Paris to share with family and friends.
"Whether or not Paris is my last Olympics or not, I want to be grateful for every opportunity and moment that I get," she said.
No matter where Steffens is around the world, the one thing she never forgets is her home and community in the Bay Area.
"I will be moving back to the Bay Area," she said. "I'm really excited for that...I think about Danville growing up and my school, Monte Vista, St. Isidore, Diablo Water Polo, and then ended up going to Stanford University. The Bay Area has gifted me, whether it's sport life, academic life, my personal life. I'm very, very grateful for that."
