Charlie Negus

From a young age, it looked like Charlie Negus was destined to play water polo. With his brothers all playing the sport and his dad coaching, it was no surprise he developed his game quickly.

Throughout his teenage years, he captained Waverley College's school water polo team whilst also representing Australia at junior national competitions, finishing eighth and eleventh place at the 2016 FINA Youth World Championships and the 2017 FINA World Junior Championships respectively.

Showing promising signs for his talent, Charlie was called up to the Aussie Sharks in 2018 and made his debut against the USA, all before his 19th birthday.

In the following year, the Sydney local competed in the 2019 FINA Junior World Cup in Kuwait.

Slowly gaining momentum into the senior Aussie Sharks squad, Charlie solidified his spot in the team after the pandemic.

From 2022, he became a crucial component of the Australia squad that competed in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 FINA World Championships, making 17 appearances across the board. In the midst of World Championships, Charlie also competed in the 2023 FINA World Cup.

Whilst competing for the successful UNSW West Magpies in the AWPL (Australian Water Polo League), Charlie got his chance to play overseas for Spanish team CN Mataro, where he signed in late 2023.

Charlie had more than 45 international caps to his name before his 25th birthday and was one of 10 Aussies to make their men's water polo Olympic debut in Paris.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Charlie and the Sharks recorded statement wins over defending Olympic champion Serbia, host nation France and Hungary in the group stage.

Finishing second in their group, it gave Australia a place in the men's Olympic quarter-finals for the first time since London 2012.

A penalty-shootout loss to the USA in the quarter-finals sent the Sharks into the 5th-8th classification games and they came away in 8th place, up from the team's 9th overall placing at Tokyo 2020.