Tumua Anae: Mormon Athlete

Tumua Anae is an Olympic gold medalist, having assisted her women’s water polo team win the first-ever American gold medal in the event at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, England. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Anae was born on October 16, 1988, Honolulu, Hawaii, and started swimming competitively at eight-years-old. After she found swimming boring, she switched to water polo and played on the water polo team at Corona del Mar High School where she was named CIF Division II Co-Player of the year her senior year. She then played for the University of Southern California and was an All-American and NCAA champion. Although she was injured in the 2009 season, she played for the remainder of the season. She was named to the All-American first team, the All-MPSF first team, and the NCAA All-Tournament team. During 2010 she was a first team All-American for the third year in a row. She was named the MPSF Player of the Year. She concluded her college career with 714 saves, the most in USC history.

In 2010, she joined the United States national water polo team playing backup goalie, a position she played in the 2011 FINA World League Super Final and the 2011 Pan American Games (her team won gold). She retired from competition soon after the Olympics. In 2014, she married Futi Tavana, a US men’s volleyball player.