Canadian women's water polo team continues quest for Olympic spot at Pan Am Games

After qualifying for the Olympics for the first time in 17 years in Tokyo, the Canadian women's water polo team wants to make sure it becomes a regular occurrence.

The first of two remaining chances to punch a ticket to Paris comes at the 2023 Pan American Games, beginning Monday in Santiago, Chile. The winner of the tournament earns one of the 12 berths to next summer's Olympics.

"The Olympics are always the goal," Canadian captain Emma Wright told CBC Sports on a recent call.

It won't be an easy task for Wright and her 11 teammates this time around, for a couple reasons.

One, the qualifying path is more tooth and nail for Paris, and two, the team has undergone some significant personnel changes.

It was a different vibe altogether at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima. Canada knew if it made it to the final along with the United States, they would qualify for the Tokyo Olympics regardless of the result, for the first time since Athens 2004.

That was because the Americans had already locked up their spot at the Olympics after taking the gold medal at that year's World Aquatics Championships.

This time around, though, the U.S. failed to make the medal round at the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka, Japan, marking the first time they didn't finish on the podium at a major tournament in a decade.

The Americans will be extra motivated to lock up their spot and go for their fourth straight Olympic gold medal.

"It's definitely a different mood going into these Games. We feel that pressure," said Wright, whose team lost 16-4 in the fifth-place bracket to the Americans at the recent world championships.

"Obviously, we want to qualify, and that's our main goal. But, again, it's important for us that we play our best game every single game and