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The 28-year-old Steffens scored a total of 38 goals over the last two Olympics, winning the MVP award for each one.
So when COVID-19 pushed back the Tokyo Games, and all the U.S.
Heading to Tokyo next month, she belongs on the short list of Olympic athletes who just might be the best to ever play their sport.
“I think people can say what they want and everyone has a right to their own opinion, but for me, I wouldn’t be here if I thought I was the greatest of all time,” she said between practices at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.
For everything Steffens does in the pool, what she does out of the water might be just as important.
Krikorian lost his brother, Blake, right before the 2016 Olympics.
Hiding behind a pair of sunglasses, an emotional Krikorian talked about his grief after an opening 11-4 victory over Spain.
That’s when Steffens walked up, put her hand on his back and offered a consoling smile.
“I think Maggie was pushed into a leadership role at a young age,” Gilchrist said.
She has several relatives who played for the Bears, but she followed her older sister, Jessica, to Stanford, and they were teammates when the U.S.
Steffens was 8 when she started playing water polo for Maureen O’Toole Purcell at Diablo Water Polo club in Northern California.
Steffens’ connection to 6-8 Sports could keep her involved with water polo long after she retires from the national team.
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