Timothy's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Water Polo
Event: Men's Water Polo
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1998
State Born: WA
About Tim
Timothy Putt burst onto the international water polo scene at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, where Australia seventh.
That same year, Tim was named co-captain of the Australian Junior World Championships team, leading them to an eleventh place finish. He was also a gold medallist at the 2017 FINA World League Intercontinental Cup.
In mid-2018, Tim moved to Croatia to play with leading club VK Primorje. He was a member of the silver medal winning Australian squad at the 2018 World Cup Finals, and in 2019 won bronze at the World League Super final.
Returning to Australia, Tim would move from his hometown in Perth to Sydney in 2020, joining the UNSW Wests Magpies.
Things seemed to be falling into line as he’d already played 70 Tests for Australia and been part of the 2017 FINA World League Intercontinental Cup gold medal with the Sharks, plus the 2018 World Cup silver and 2019 World League Super Finals bronze.
But then COVID hit, the AWPL was cancelled, studies were moved off campus, and the Olympics were pushed back a year.
“I've been in a really positive headspace about it and just taking it as if the Olympics was actually supposed to be in 2021 and staying completely focused on it,” he said.
As a member of the Australian Sharks squad, Putt made his Olympic debut at the delayed Tokyo 2020 games. Australia would face an incredibly competitive group stage, tasked with playing the likes of Croatia, Spain and eventual gold medalists Serbia.
Victories against Croatia and Kazakhstan would see the Aussies finish their group with a 2-3 record, narrowly missing the opportunities to progress to the knockout stage of the games, based on head-to-head rulings.
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