London 2012 Golden Bear Olympians: Heather Petri, U.S. Women's Water Polo

Heather Petri is a 3-time Olympic medalist with the USA Women's Water polo team who has 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal, making her just one of two American's that have earned three medals. This summer she'll be participating in her fourth straight Olympics and looking to round out her medal collection with a gold.

But before she made her mark on the Olympic water polo scene, Heather was a star in the pool for the Golden Bears, captaining the team in 1999 and 2001 and finished her career with 96 goals and a second team all-MPSF, MPSF Tournament first team and first team All-National honors in 1999. In her first two seasons at Cal she was part of the 1997 and 1998 Cal Berkeley Collegiate National Teams which placed second in each season. Learn more about her career after the jump!

Check out this video where she answers questions asked in another language (with a translator) :

Heather Petri (via sportkinef)

Petri graduated from Berkeley in 2002 with a degree in integrative biology and has played for several professional teams all over the world since, winning a championship in Brazil in 2011, and two European championships for the Vouliagmeni Nautical Club in Greece in 2008/9 and 2009/10.

She has been a mainstay on the U.S National team since 1999 and has the following accomplishments:

2012 FINA WORLD LEAGUE SUPER FINAL, CHANGSHU, CHINA, 1ST PLACE
2011 PAN AMERICAN GAMES, GUADALAJARA, MEXICO, 1ST PLACE
2011 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, SHANGHAI, CHINA, 6TH PLACE
2011 FINA WORLD LEAGUE SUPER FINAL, TIANJIN, CHINA, 1ST PLACE
2010 FINA WORLD LEAGUE SUPER FINAL, SAN DIEGO, CA, 1ST PLACE
2009 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, ROME, ITALY, 1ST PLACE
2009 FINA WORLD LEAGUE SUPER FINAL, KIRISHI, RUSSIA 1ST PLACE
2008 OLYMPIC GAMES, BEIJING, CHINA, 2ND PLACE
2008 FINA WORLD LEAGUE SUPER FINAL, TENERIFE, SPAIN, 2ND PLACE
2007 PAN AMERICAN GAMES, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, 1ST PLACE
2007 FINA WORLD LEAGUE SUPER FINAL, MONTREAL, CANADA, 1ST PLACE
2007 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1ST PLACE
2006 HOLIDAY CUP, LOS ALAMITOS, CA , 1ST PLACE
2006 FINA WORLD CUP, TIANJIN, CHINA, 4TH PLACE
2006 FINA WORLD LEAGUE, COSENZA, ITALY, 1ST PLACE
2005 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, MONTREAL, CANADA, 2ND PLACE
2005 FINA WORLD LEAGUE, 5TH PLACE
2004 OLYMPIC GAMES, ATHENS, GREECE, 3RD PLACE
2004 HOLIDAY CUP, LA JOLLA, CA, 1ST PLACE
2004 FINA WORLD LEAGUE SERIES, LONG BEACH, CA, 1ST PLACE
2003 HOLIDAY CUP, LOS ALAMITOS, CA, 1ST PLACE
2003 PAN AMERICAN GAMES, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 1ST PLACE
2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BARCELONA, SPAIN, 1ST PLACE
2002 FINA WORLD CUP, PERTH, AUSTRALIA, 2ND PLACE
2002 HOLIDAY CUP, PALO ALTO, UNITED STATES, 1ST PLACE
2002 USA CUP, CHICAGO, UNITED STATES, 3RD PLACE
2001 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, FUKUOKA, JAPAN, 4TH PLACE
2001 HOLIDAY CUP, LOS ALAMITOS, UNITED STATES, 1ST PLACE
2000 OLYMPIC GAMES, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 2ND PLACE
2000 OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT, PALERMO, SICILY, 2ND PLACE
2000 HOLIDAY CUP, LOS ALAMITOS, CA, 1ST PLACE

That is a lot of 1st places. Heather's really good.

She started playing water polo on a boys team because there was not one for girls, but she eventually was instrumental in getting one started. Clearly she does not back down from obstacles placed in her way. She comes into these Olympics as one of the most experienced players on the team but she is still playing at a high level, as evidenced by her four goals at the 2012 FINA World League Super Final. She also scored 4 goals on the way to a Gold Medal and Olympic berth at the 2011 Pan American Games, so there's not really any worry that she is slowing down.

You can take a look at her full Cal Bio here and her full Team USA Bio here.

Heather is someone that is dedicated to her sport and excels at it as well. Here's hoping that she can round out her medal collection in London with that elusive gold. GO BEARS and GO TEAM USA!