USA Women’s Water Polo Claims Fourth Straight World Cup Crown
Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Haynes/USA Water Polo/World Aquatics
The USA women’s water polo team claimed its fourth consecutive World Cup title with a 12-11 win over the Netherlands.
The U.S. led 8-3 but the Netherlands stormed back and nearly had a game-tying goal in the final seconds.
“One thing we talk about as a team is maintaining a gold standard, regardless of how the match is going. That attitude and culture is what made us so successful today, especially in the younger women who played big roles and stepped up in our win today, despite having limited experience at this stage,” U.S. captain Maggie Steffens said. “Today was the tale of two halves. We definitely lost some concentration going into that third quarter. In the first half, we were very focused on our team defense and as the second half began, we started to let up there. You can’t do that against the Netherlands because they have some of the best players and shooters in the world who will capitalize on your mistakes as they did today. For us, it was about refocusing our mentality and effort back to our team defense during the fourth quarter and ultimately gave us the win today.”
It was the fifth World Cup title overall for the USA women’s water polo.
Spain defeated Hungary 18-15 for the bronze medal. Greece edged Italy with the 10-9 winner coming in the last two seconds, and Israel downed New Zealand 12-11 with a last-minute goal for its first victory at this level.
This was a match of two parts with both teams having 8-3 halves. USA was 8-3 ahead early in the second quarter, then the Dutch knuckled down and began their drive, going 8-3 for 11-11 at 1:54. USA started with the first two goals by Steffens, leading 3-1 and then 5-2 at the break. Steffens scored a third as the slower-scoring period reached 7-3 at the long break.
Maddie Musselman began the third on extra and the USA was apparently surfing the victory wave. However, a tip-in goal from Kitty Joustra began the Dutch resurgence and narrowed the margin to two before the USA closed the period at 10-7. Goals were traded at the top of the fourth before three Dutch goals — two from Maartje Keuning — levelled at 1:54. USA calmly went to a timeout and Rachel Fattal provided the conversion at 1:26.
The Netherlands had a timeout at 0:20, nearly lost the ball before regathering and passing around until captain Sabrina van der Sloot fired from wide right into the bottom corner, only for Amanda Longan to smother. It looked like it could have gone in, but the USA retained the ball and took out the gold medal.
Happy Birthday Gail Roper!!
Gail Roper (USA)
Honor Masters Swimmer (2003)
FOR THE RECORD: MASTERS SWIMMING: WORLD RECORDS (42): (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, IM); USMS RECORDS: (166): (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, IM); 1984 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m, 100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 50m, 100m, 200m breaststroke, 50m, 100m, 200m butterfly, 200m, 400m IM); 1985 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 50m, 100m, 200m butterfly, 400m IM); 1986 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m, 800m freestyle, 100m, 200m butterfly, 400m IM); 1988 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m butterfly), silver (400m IM); 1952, 1953 US NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 6 short course (100yd, 200yd, 250yd breaststroke, 300yd IM), 5 long course (110yd, 220yd breaststroke 330yd IM relays); 40-44 Age Group: 29 NATIONAL RECORDS; 45-49 Age Group: 7 WORLD RECORDS, 39 NATIONAL RECORDS; 50-54 Age Group: 16 WORLD RECORDS, 54 NATIONAL RECORDS; 55-59 Age Group: 12 WORLD RECORDS, 38 NATIONAL RECORDS; 60-64 Age Group: 1 WORLD RECORD, 2 NATIONAL RECORDS; 65-69 Age Group: 6 WORLD RECORDS, 4 NATIONAL RECORDS; US MASTERS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (130): 74 short course (50yd, 100yd, 200yd butterfly, 200yd backstroke, 100yd, 200yd breaststroke, 50yd, 100yd, 200yd, 500yd, 1650yd freestyle, 100yd, 200yd, 400yd IM), 56 long course (50m, 100m, 200m butterfly, 100m, 200m breaststroke, 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 1500m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM).
She was not a particularly good athlete in school. In fact, the school coaches never considered her when drawing up a team roster, but this strong willed and dedicated girl coached herself to become the best breaststroker in the world both as a younger senior swimmer and later as a master swimmer. She had a number one world ranking in 1953, beating out Hungary’s Hall of Famer Eva Szekely, the 1952 Olympic champion and a number one world ranking in each of her Masters swimming age groups.
Gail Peters Roper, born in 1929 in Trenton, New Jersey, learned to swim on her own by reading books on swimming and then trying it out in the water. She never found a coach serious enough to work with her, but she was the 1948-1951 New Jersey State Champion and a 1948 Eastern Interscholastic Champion. In 1951, at the age of 22, a few years after high school, she moved to Washington, D.C. as a military geology draftsman for the government. It was here that she began swimming with the girls on the Walter Reed Hospital Team relays, winning and setting records in the breaststroke, individual medley and 300yd medley relays with Hall of Famers Mary Freeman and Shelly Mann. In 1952, she became the US National Champion in the 100yd and 200yd breaststroke and the 300yd individual medley in National Record time. Her performances garnered her a spread in various magazines including the April 1952 Life magazine which described her after winning the US National Championships, “in a bathing suit, she looked scrawny and in street clothes, wearing glasses with a pink rim and rhinestones, she looked anything but athletic. But in the water she looked wonderful and became the star of the meet.” She was the swimming nominee for the coveted Sullivan Award that same year.
She coached herself to the 1952 Olympic Trials where she qualified first in the 200m breaststroke on the US Olympic team. All set to take on the world in Helsinki, she pulled a ligament in her ankle just before the competition and was not able to race. She left Finland disappointed, but eager to continue in the water.
The next year at the US AAU National Championships she won the High Point award by winning the 100yd and 250yd breaststroke and 300yd medley relay. Swimming long course, she won the 110yd, 220yd breaststroke, 330yd IM, 330yd medley relay and the 880yd freestyle relay. And again she was the Sullivan Award nominee.
Gail swam until she was 26 years old, beyond the normal age for a competitive female swimmer. It was then time to start a family and live the family life. She stayed away from swimming for 18 years.
It was at the age of 44 that Gail began to swim again, this time on her daughter’s swim team in California. She competed in the first Masters meet ever held in 1970 and from the start began to set national records in all four strokes and the individual medley. From 1974 to 1978, her five years in the women’s 45-49 age group, she held every short course yards record in her age group as well as 14 of the 16 long course records for most of those years. She has set over 42 world records and won 27 gold medals at the first 5 Masters World Championship meets throughout the world. She has won over 130 US Masters National Championships setting 53 records at these meets. All total, she has set 166 US National Records in all of the age groups in which she has participated from the 40-44 to the 65-69 age groups.
In 1986, Gail was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and advised to severely restrict her swimming. Following the doctor’s advice, she finally retired in 1990 and from 1991 through 1994, she was the Masters coach for the very successful University of San Francisco Masters Team.
But you can’t keep a good girl out of the water and in 1994, she decided to return to swimming, instantly setting national and world records in her new 65-69 age group. Sports Illustrated has called her the most dominant swimmer ever. Today, as a mother of 7 and grandmother too, she continues to swim up a storm.
Happy Birthday Margo McGrath!!
Margo McGrath (USA)
Honor Synchronized / Artistic Swimmer (1989)
FOR THE RECORD: AAU SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 17 (solo, duet, team, 5 successive number 1 figure awards); CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 4 (solo, duet, team); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2 (duet, team); Pacific Assn’s Outstanding Athlete: 1967, 1968; Helms Hall of Fame: 1970; Lawrence Johnson Aquatic Award: 1968; U.S. Synchronized Swimming Hall of Fame: 1969.
“McGrath & Redmond”. So might have read the billing in Vaudeville at the Palace. McGrath and Redmond, the first synchronized duet honored by the International Swimming Hall of Fame would have certainly had top billing anywhere. This dynamic duo were show biz naturals in the art of “Swimdancing” long before synchronized swimming was recognized in our Aquatic World Championships or at the Olympics. These two girls were superb athletes and won solo National & International Championships galore, but it was as a pair that they set duet standards previously unmatched in their sport. Together, they completely dominated U.S. and world synchronized swimming.
Margo McGrath, while modest, honest and generous to a fault was a competitor who dominated synchronized swimming winning a total of 17 U. S. National Championships. She was the youngest Senior National Champion in the history of the sport at age 13. She made believers out of speed swimmers, too, when she won San Francisco’s Golden Gate Swim in 56 degree water beating 23 other girls before hundreds of spectators lining the Golden Gate Bridge.
Margo was the technician who brought figures to a new level of excellence. She put “swim” into synchronized swimming. She was the expert in fluid motion. Her “poetry in swimming” mesmerized her audience and made them feel a part of the water. During the years 1966 and 1967, she never lost a championship and was the first to win all four events — solo, duet, team, figures — and did it four times consecutively.
Happy Birthday Stephanie Rice!!
Stephanie Rice (AUS)
Honor Swimmer (2019)
FOR THE RECORD: 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (200m I.M, 400m I.M, 4x200m freestyle; 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (200m I.M, 400m I.M.); 2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (200m I.M, 4x100m medley); bronze (400m I.M.); 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (400m I.M., 4x100m medley); 2006 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (200m I.M., 400m I.M); 2006 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (200m I.M, 400m I.M)
She first showed promise of being a great swimmer at 16, when she qualified for the 2005 Junior Pan-Pacific Championships. It was there that Stephanie Rice won two gold medals for Team Australia.
Rice burst onto the international senior scene in 2006 under coach Michael Bohl, winning two gold medals in both IMs at the Commonwealth Games in her home country. The next year at the World Championships also in front of a home crowd, Rice won two bronze medals in both IMs, lowering the Australian record in the 200.
In March 2008 at the Australian Olympic Trials in Sydney, Rice unexpectedly broke the world record in the 400m IM by a full second. Three days later, she broke the 200m IM world record that had stood for 11 years and qualified for her first Olympic team.
At the Olympic Games in Beijing, Rice became just the sixth Australian athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympics when she won both IMs and led off Australia’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
Stephanie became the first woman to break 4:30 in the 400m IM and lowered her own world record in the 200m IM later in the meet. To finish off her meet, she broke the Australian record in the 200m freestyle en route to Australia breaking the world record in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Rice was honored as the World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine and in January 2009 was awarded the prestigious Order of Australia Medal.
After the Olympics, Rice started dealing with nagging shoulder pain while she swam. At the 2009 World Championships, she won silver in the 200m IM and bronze in the 400m IM, not quite as good as her Olympics performances.
In 2010, her shoulder pain had gotten so bad, she underwent surgery, causing her to drop out of international competition.
Her surgery was successful but nine months before the 2012 Olympic Games in London, she tore a tendon in her shoulder. She was going to need surgery with a six-month recovery, but with the Olympic Trials only ten weeks away, full surgery was not an option. She elected for a smaller surgery that would hopefully keep her healthy for the Olympics. Despite these injuries, Rice qualified for the London Olympics in both the 200m and 400m IM, posting times near the top of the world rankings at the Olympic Trials.
In the weeks leading up to the Olympics, the pain in her shoulder continued to get worse. She was cutting her work load in the pool to ease the pain, but it was still a struggle. With all the injuries behind her, Rice was proud of her 4th place 200m IM and 6th place 400m IM performances in London and announced her retirement in 2014 at the age of 24.
She co-authored the book, The Art of Wellness, and is an ambassador for numerous well-known Australian health brands. Rice’s passion in life is to share her wealth of knowledge and her insights to positively impact others’ lives and inspire them to be the best they can be.
She is now giving back to the sport of swimming with her coach Michael Bohl. They are planning to build Learn-to- Swim programs all throughout India. In addition, they plan to develop the “Stephanie Rice Elite Academy,” with the goal of producing India’s very first Olympic swimming medalist in the next decade.
Happy Birthday Michael Gross!!
Michael Gross (FRG)
Honor Swimmer (1995)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1980 silver (4x100m medley relay); 1984 gold (200m freestyle, 100m butterfly), silver (200m butterfly); 1988 gold (200m butterfly), bronze (4x200m freestyle relay); WORLD RECORDS: 12 (4-200m freestyle, 1-400m freestyle, 1-100m butterfly, 4-200m butterfly, 2-4x200m freestyle relay); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1982 gold (200m freestyle, 200m butterfly), silver (100m butterfly), bronze (4x200m freestyle relay); 1986 gold (200m freestyle, 200m butterfly), silver (4x100m medley relay, 4x200m freestyle relay); 1991 gold (4x200m freestyle relay), silver (100m, 200m butterfly), bronze (4x100m medley relay); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1981 gold (200m butterfly); 1983 gold (200m freestyle, 100m, 200m butterfly, 4x200m freestyle relay), silver (4x100m medley relay); 1985 gold (200m freestyle, 100m, 200m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay, 4x200m freestyle relay); 1987 gold (200m butterfly, 4x200m freestyle relay), silver (100m butterfly), bronze (200m freestyle); EUROPEAN RECORDS: 24.
What does this West German superstar’s Porsche and swimming have in common? They are both very, very fast.
At 19, Michael Gross set his first world record at the German nationals in 1983. The next three years Michael broke his own record in the 200meter freestyle four times and set world marks in the 200m butterfly (four times) and 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle. At one time, Michael actually held four world records in four different events.
This 6-foot-6 record breaker has dominated the surface of the water for a decade as one of the greatest West German swimmers in history. His stature is so large that his wing span reaches almost lane-to-lane. For this, he has been coined, the “Albatross.” Michael says he likes his nickname, “because there are much more stupid nicknames in the world.”
Throughout his swimming career, Michael won gold medals at the European Championships in 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987; the World Championship Games in 1982, 1986 and 1991; and was a triple gold medalist and a silver medalist at the 1984 Olympics. In the 1988 Olympics he won the gold again in the 200m freestyle and two silver medals in both butterfly events.
Michael’s last meet was at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, but he has no intention of leaving the world of sports. He is looking forward to enjoying sports such as skiing and marathon running.
Aside from his swimming, Michael is a philosopher and holds a doctorate in this thought provoking science. To him, this achievement is as important as being an Olympic champion. Gross believes, “The worst thing in life is to have no wishes, no goals, because then you have nothing to reach for, nothing to live for.” Needless to say, Michael has had much to live for.
Happy Birthday Steve Clark!!
Steve Clark (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1966)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1960 (participant); 1964 gold (4x100m, 4x200m freestyle relay; 4x100m medley relay); WORLD RECORDS: 50yd, 100yd, 100m, 200yd, 200m freestyle.
Steve Clark swam the 1960 Olympics out of Los Altos High School and the 1964 Olympics out of Yale and Santa Clara. He won five NCAA individual championships at Yale and six AAU titles for Santa Clara Swim Club. He won 3 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, setting a world record of 52.9 for the 100 meter freestyle.
Clark is the first man in the world to have swum faster than 21 seconds for 50 yards, 46 seconds for 100 yards, 53 seconds for 100 meters, 1:50 for 200 yards and 2 minutes for 200 meters.
Clark’s 9 world records would have been at least 29 in an earlier time when FINA was accepting short course times for 50, 100, 200 and 220 yard, 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle. Steve Clark was Santa Clara’s first great male swimmer at the time Hall of Famer Chris Von Saltza was Santa Clara’s premier woman swimmer. Whereas Chris’ father characterized Chris by saying, “The longer the distance, the better the Von Saltza”, he might have added, “and the shorter the distance, the better the Clark.” Steve Clark was unquestionably the World’s fastest freestyle sprint swimmer for five years retiring to Harvard Law School with his records unchallenged.
In speculating on what might have been, swim buffs will always wonder on the fate that might have kept Steve from being the first man to win four gold medals in an Olympiad. Steve had tendonitis in his shoulder during the USA’s sudden-death Olympic Trials. His fourth place made the team, but only as a relay swimmer. By Tokyo, the tendonitis was gone, but U.S. rules limited Steve to 3 relays and 3 gold medals. He started off the 400 freestyle relay in the fastest gun start 100 of the Olympics. It was a new world record, but Steve didn’t get to do it when it would count for that fourth gold medal.
Clark’s book, Competitive Swimming As I See It , is a swimming best seller.
Happy Birthday Chi Lieh Yung!!
Chi Lieh Yung (CHN)
Honor Swimmer (2013)
His talent for swimming was recognized while playing at a beach in Hong Kong, by coaches of the Lai Tsun Swimming Union of the Chinese Y.M.C.A. Under the guidance of his coaches, Chan and Huang, he was shown how frogs leapt great distances by releasing explosive power in their legs and learned to swim the breaststroke. Taking this cue from nature and with the dream of becoming the “King of the Frogs,” Chi became the most celebrated swimmer in Hong Kong. Having the option to represent Hong Kong, Formosa or the New China in international competition, Chi chose the latter and crossed the border on April 8, 1954 to join the training camp in Guangdong.
Coached by a collaborative of Hungarian, Russian and Chinese coaches, and from his own observations and studies, Chi developed a unique style of swimming that came to be known as “the high sailing position,” that utilized his powerful kick. During the national swimming championships in 1955, his efforts paid off as he won first place in the men’s 100 and 200 meter breaststroke.
In October of 1956, Chi Lieh Yung was one of 12 swimmers, 11 male and 1 female, selected to represent the People’s Republic at the 16th Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. The only female swimmer, Dai Lihua, later became Chi’s wife. Unfortunately, politics intervened and China did not send its team.
The following year, on May 1st, a swimming competition was organized to commemorate the International Labor Day. Chi was in his prime, and all the best breaststrokers were entered. He broke the world record in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:11.6. This was the first world record by a Chinese swimmer recognized by FINA. His accomplishment was an immense source of pride and an inspiration for the new nation. Although Chi never got the chance to compete in the Olympics, he did realize his childhood dream of becoming “The King of Frogs” and he will forever be remembered as China’s first world record setter in swimming.
After retiring, he and his wife devoted themselves to coaching the national swimming team until 1976 when they returned to Hong Kong, where Chi started his own successful business. His interest has always been swimming and music, even now he spends more than one hour a day in the pool.
Happy Birthday Ulrika Tauber!!
Ulrika Tauber (GDR)
Honor Swimmer (1988)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 gold (400m individual medley), silver (200m butterfly); WORLD RECORDS: 9 (200m, 400m individual medley); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1975 gold (400m individual medley), silver (200m individual medley); 1978 silver (400m individual medley), bronze (200m individual medley); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1974 gold (200m, 400m individual medley), silver (100m, 200m backstroke); 1977 gold (200m, 400m individual medley); World Swimmer of the Year 1974, 1977.
Dr. Ulrika Tauber was named World Swimmer of the Year in both 1974 and 1977. Even though it is difficult to compare times historically with the present, we all know the individual medley requires adeptness at all four strokes. In Ulrika Tauber’s case, she broke the 200 individual medley record three times in 1978 and was two seconds ahead of everybody else in the event. In the 400, she was even farther in front of the world. Ulrika won the gold in the 200 & 400 I.M. in the 1974 and 1977 European Championships and placed second behind her GDR teammates in the 100m & 200m back (1974).
Dr. Tauber set nine world records and won six Olympic and World Championship medals while studying for medical school. She retired from swimming to become mother and physician. Ulrika, who trained at the famed Karl Marx Stadt Swim Club, joins 1988 Barbara Krause and seven previous honorees from the German Democratic Republic in the Hall of Fame.
Doping Disclaimer: In a German court of law, after this swimmer was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, team officials confessed to administering performance enhancing drugs to this swimmer, who therefore obtained an illegal and unfair advantage over other athletes.
Happy Birthday Dr. Denes Kemeny!!
Dr. Denes Kemeny (HUN)
Honor Water Polo (2011)
FOR THE RECORD: 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP S: gold; 2003 FINA WATER POLO WORLD LEAGUE: gold; 2004 FINA WATER POLO WORLD LEAGUE: gold; 1999 FINA WATER POLO WORLD CUP: gold; 1997 EUROPEAN WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 1999 EUROPEAN WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIP S: gold; 2000 LEN WATER POLO EUROPEAN LEAGUE: gold.
Born in Budapest 1954, Denes Kemeny began playing water polo at the young age of six. For the next 21 years, he played for six teams making the Hungarian National Team from 1974 to 1986 and competing in over 17 international games for his country. But his competition days were only preparing him for what was to come. In a country where water polo is the national sport, Kemeny would become one of Hungary’s most successful water polo coaches ever.
He graduated college in veterinary medicine, but later with a degree of water polo master trainer, he assumed the head coaching reigns of the National Team of Hungary; a country that had won an Olympic medal at all 12 Olympic Games from 1928 through 1980, but had not won an Olympic medal for the 20 year period from the1980 Moscow Olympics to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Kemeny changed all that! Within two short years as National Team Coach in 1978, his style, leadership and coaching ability returned.
Hungary to world prominence and water polo world dominance. Everything he touched turned to gold: the 2000 Olympic Sydney Olympic Games defeating Russia with the biggest goal margin in the history of Olympic finals; the 2004 Olympic Athens Games defeating Serbia & Montenegro coming back from a two goal deficit in the final period; and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games defeating a strong, surprise team from the USA.
This marks the first time a country has won three successive Olympic Games since Great Britain in 1908, 1912 and 1920. Kemenycoached teams have won gold medals at World Championships, World League, World Cups, European Championships and the European League. Kemeny has the ability to take young players and turn them into great players.
Happy Birthday Jennifer Chandler!!
Jennifer Chandler (USA)
Honor Diver (1987)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 gold (springboard); 1980 member U.S. Olympic team; WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1 1978 bronze (springboard); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1975 bronze (springboard); AAU NATIONALS: 4 Indoors (1m 1975; 3m 1974, 1976, 1978); 2 Outdoors (1m 1977; 3m 1978); AMERICAN CUP: 1977 bronze (springboard).
Gutsy, articulate, graceful, pretty Jennifer Chandler is studying to hone her skills as an artist with pencil and paint brush. Her water color commentary can be heard on network television, and her aquatic artistry began as a springboard diver when she was nine. A bad back caused her early retirement at 21, an age when most divers are just approaching their physical peaks.
Before her forced career change at 21, she had won the Pan American Games at Mexico City at age 15, gold medaled at the Montreal Olympics at 17 and made the ill-fated Olympic team that did not go to Moscow in 1980. Jennifer left her Birmingham hometown to 13 to follow her coach Carlos DeCuba to Atlanta. She won her first of six nationals the next year in Dallas, Texas. She says of diving and herself, “You only really dive against yourself again and again and again, so outside pressure never bothered me. I wanted to win, and I worked hard for it, but the fame was real difficult to handle. Winning for me came almost too young. It brought a lot of early responsibility. It’s made me a better adult, but it was tough for a while.”