Exposure good for water polo, teammates say
Horn-Miller's nude photo reflects spirit of women's squad

ALLAN MAKI reports from Sydney

They're selling nude photographs of Canadian water polo player Waneek Horn-Miller at the Olympic Village -- and she's not upset about it. Nervous, yes. Upset, no.

"They're bringing in 200 copies to the village," a Canadian press attaché told her.

"Oh, great," was her response.

Two hundred copies of Time magazine with Horn-Miller on the cover, standing proudly, holding a water polo ball and wearing nothing but an eagle feather in her hair, have been targeted for newsstands in the village, where more than 10,000 of the world's finely tuned bodies are staying.

For Horn-Miller, 24, the decision to pose in the buff while representing her Mohawk heritage and Canadian citizenship was not made lightly. First, she talked to her mother and family. Then she talked to her boyfriend. Then she talked to her teammates, who agreed that exposure of any kind was good for a sport about to make its Olympic debut in Sydney.

So she did it. Then she left for Australia with her teammates before the magazine hit the stands.

In many ways, Horn-Miller was the right choice to represent a team as wildly divergent and eclectic as the Canadian women's water polo squad.

Horn-Miller was born in Kahnawake, Que. When she was 14, she was front and centre of the Oka standoff, in which Mohawks squared off against the Canadian army and Quebec's provincial police. She was stabbed in the chest by a soldier's bayonet during one skirmish and was photographed lying on the ground, crying and bleeding while holding her younger sister.

That was 10 years ago. Since then, she has attended university and melded her native beliefs with her love of sport. That same passion for water polo has also brought together a Canadian team that includes several university students, a nurse at a Montreal hospital, an officer with the Quebec City police force, a fitness consultant and Marie-Claude Deslières.

Deslières is a 34-year-old mother of three children, all under the age of seven. She never thought she'd see the day when her sport would be part of the Olympics.

"It was frustrating back then," said Deslières, who played her first game as a member of the senior national team in 1982. "But now that I'm here, I'm so happy. It's a dream come true since I was nine years old. The girls I played with were always hoping, always fighting to move things [for permission to compete in the Olympics]. I'm kind of sad those girls don't have a chance now."

While men's water polo is the oldest team sport in the Olympics, the women's game wasn't added to the agenda until 1997, a year after the Atlanta Games. The women on the Canadian team believe that water polo's male-oriented, European power base made their acceptance a difficult task. But as more female swimmers switched to water polo, the game's popularity grew as the quality of its play improved.

"It's come a long way," said Canadian captain Cora Campbell, who has played professionally in Italy and the Netherlands. "People are starting to realize we can play the sport. The women play more of a finesse game, and I think there's more attention being paid to the women's game than the men."

Canada's men failed to qualify for Sydney.

Horn-Miller's decision to go naked ensured that a great deal of attention was paid to her and her sport. That decision could have worked against her on a number of levels. It could have alienated her from the team. Having posed in front of a red Maple Leaf, it could have reopened the wounds of Oka.

But Horn-Miller has managed to take a stand and come away with only admirers.

"I'm here as an athlete. I'm here, of course, as a Mohawk athlete. I represent a lot of people back home," she said when asked for her thoughts on the aboriginal protests that have been held here before the opening of the Sydney Games.

"I'm here to compete. I'm not here in a political capacity. Maybe some day I'll come back in that role."

As for the day-and-a-half photo shoot for Time, Horn-Miller said she had her mother with her from start to finish.

"My mom said: 'You might as well enjoy it. You're not going to have that body forever.' I think in the picture I was trying to get across strength, pride and determination, just as we as a Canadian Olympic team are very strong, proud and determined to win. That's why I wanted to wear the eagle feather. It was given to me by my boyfriend. He's Cree, and it's a sign of honour and respect. I brought it here with me."

Soon, she'll also have 200 copies of her nude photograph on sale at the Olympic Village. She said she'd like an Olympic medal to go with them.

Reprinted with permission

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