Former Canadian Olympian and Olympic head coach David Hart has seen it all in his 43 years of involvement in water polo, and the legend weighs in on Canada's qualification, reflects on his former glory days, explains what an Olympic berth can mean for the sport of water polo and reveals his plans for the future.

Hart, who competed in four Olympic Games, as a player in both the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal games, before coaching the 1984 men's team in Los Angeles and the women's team in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has a unique perspective on the results of the Olympic qualifications."I had such mixed emotions about the outcomes of the Olympic qualification," he said. "I was ecstatic about the great success of the men and devastated about the women's loss."
The senior men's program secured a spot for the Beijing Olympics at a qualification tournament in Oradea, Romania, while the women's program failed to obtain a berth."We lost a unique opportunity to have both men and women at the Beijing Gamesand this would have been a major feather in our cap," said Hart, adding that the men's success and the women's failure demonstrates that monetary assistance is not necessarily as important for success as often claimed.
"Attitude, focus, commitment, quality and long-term thinking are essentialingredients in paving the way for a shot at success," he said. "But I have confidence that the women's program can take this set-back and turn it into a positive looking toward London 2012."

While Hart was pleased with the performance of the men's national team, he was quick to point out that the Olympic berth will offer Canada the chance solidify an inconsistent program. "I feel that the men's success has given our organization an extended window to get our house in order," said Hart. "We need to make some major adjustments to our domestic competition structure and to create more national training centres." But Hart isn't all gloom and doom, revealing how far the men's program has come since his playing days. "The 1972 Olympic Games was the first ever major world event for a Canadian Men's water polo team," he said. "The expectations were not very high and we really just saw this as a starting point from which to build a Canadian men's tradition." But the team made significant strides and in 1976, the team used the Olympics to showcase their improving play. "The 1976 Olympic Games was a coming-of-age event for the Canadian Men's program," said Hart. "We finished in the top 10 for the first time in history and made some major surprises. We drew 6-6 with the defending Olympic and world champion Soviet Union team and we played a strong game against the eventual Olympic champions from Hungary, losing 4-2."

And according to Hart, the 2008 edition of Canadian Olympians can build on the previous success of Canadian teams. "The men will have a golden opportunity to further establish themselves as a credible water polo power within the top 12 nations of the world," said Hart. "If the team can make some surprises in Beijing, the Canadian public's awareness for our sport will jump as it did when our women competed in 2000." But while Hart is upfront with what an Olympic berth can do for water polo in Canada, he isn't as clear with respect to his involvement in the sport. "In 2010 I will reach my 50th year of elite aquatics involvement with 45 of those years in water polo, with an international career spanning almost 40 years. I am in the process now of building the succession plan in Ottawa and plan to step back into semi-retirement by 2010," he said. "It is hard to imagine right now that I could return to the national team scene. My current idea is to slow down and delve into some other areas I'd like to explore in more detail. I have now retired twice from the international scene. Will there be a third? Time will tell."