Lena Mihailovic

Fast Facts

Sport: Water Polo 
Event: Women
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born:  1996
Born: Belgrade, Serbia

About Lena

If you listen carefully you might still hear the cries from the Sun Devils coaching staff at Arizona State University for Lena Mihailovic to come back!

In her four years at ASU she pushed herself inside the university’s top-10 all-time scorers list with 131 goals before leaving in 2018.

The Belgrade-born player then had success with Hungarian league team, Ferencvarosi.

Being a citizen of the world started from her father – current Stingers head coach Predrag Mihailoic. He was a professional Water Polo player until 2005 and changed clubs so often, that while Lena was born in Belgrade, she has also lived in Montenegro, Italy, Turkey before Australia.

"I didn't like moving so much at first, but now I like it because when I travel I have friends everywhere so I feel at home,” Lena said.

Lena’s local club is ACU Cronulla Sharks where she is one of two Stingers in the women’s squad alongside fellow Tokyo Olympic squad member Madeleine Steere. They are coached by dual Olympic bronze medallist and former Stingers captain, Mel Rippon.

Lena made her Stingers debut in the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, although she represented Australia at both the 2014 World Youth and 2015 World Junior titles. 

After a tip-off, Arizona State University coach Todd Clapper went to see her play at the 2014 World Youth event in Madrid – and was convinced immediately.

"I liked the way she shot the ball and had good speed and because she was a coach’s kid, she knows the game really well," Clapper said. "I knew she had the right attitude because she sets her sights pretty high as far as the national team and wanting to be on the Olympic team."

Lena made her Olympic debut at the delayed Tokyo 2020 games.  Australia would enjoy an impressive group-stage of the games, boasting a record of 3-1, finsihing equal first on points and advancing in second. This woudl set the Aussies up for a quarter-final tie against the ROC, where they would narrowly lose a tense match 9-8. 

Australia would end thier games with consecuative wins against Canada and the Netherlands, earning them a 5th overall placing in the tournament.