A Spy in Norway? How Colombia became UWR World Champion
written by Daniel Knoke and Paul Haas
Zum deutschen Text geht es hier.
Samuel Gaviria (lower right corner) with his norwegian Team Molde UVK.
(Photo: Samuel Gaviria)
World championships in underwater rugby (UWR) have been held since 1980. In total, only six nations have won medals since then. Besides Germany, these are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland - and Colombia. The South American country stands out at first glance in this otherwise very homogeneous list of UWR nations from Central and Northern Europe.
It is also striking that Colombia is the current world champion in the men's event. In 2015, the South Americans caused a stir for the first time. At that time, the Colombian men surprisingly managed third place at the World Championships. This was perhaps still explainable insofar as the Colombians were allowed to enjoy the home advantage. The title fights took place in Santiago de Cali. But four years later at the World Championships in Graz, the team from Colombia confirmed its rise to the top of the world and crowned itself champion.
But what was the catalyst for this rise to the top? Germany's national UWR player Hannes Treiber has a theory on the matter. In the MUS interview on the UWR podcast episode, he says that Colombia's rise to world class was achieved thanks to a spy. A spy? In an unpopular sport?
Treiber goes on to say that the spy played for a few years in Norway with a top team. After that, he returned to Colombia and put his new knowledge to good use. At first glance, the thesis seems daring, but of course MUS went to investigate and quickly tracked down the alleged spy (which does not speak well for his espionage skills).
Samuel Gaviria is the man's name. He is now 38 years old, and in fact he played for top Norwegian club Molde UVK from January 2012 to January 2014. Then, at the beginning of 2014, he returned to Colombia and as already mentioned: a year later, the Colombian men's national team celebrated its first success with the bronze medal at the home World Cup.
In the MUS cross-examination, Gaviria confirms all these details. However, he denies that he was a spy in Norway. "I had just finished my master's degree in Great Britain and wanted to continue playing UWR," he explains. At that time, he says, there was no underwater rugby in the UK, so he went to Norway because he knew the coach there.
So it's all not a big story? Not quite. When asked by MUS if he was personally involved with Colombia's rise to the top of the world after his return from Norway, he replied as follows: "We already had some good ideas, but we were still playing an unfashionable, somewhat old-fashioned style. I then adapted those good basic ideas to a new style that I wanted to beat Europe and the rest of the world with."
In other words, Gaviria has used the knowledge he gained in Norway to adapt the Colombian style of play to take the national team to the top of the world. He apparently did this so successfully that at the end of the development was the world championship title. By the way, which team stood on the opposing side in the final of the World Cup tournament? Of course, the team from Norway.
Nevertheless, there were no bad words to be heard from the Scandinavians after their loss. The often praised community in unpopular sports pays off in this case as well. "It wasn't a bad atmosphere at all." Gaviria had heard only positive words from the defeated Norwegians after the final. He impressively confirms that the relationship with his hosts is still intact. He has made friends for life in Norway, he says in response to the MUS question. In fact, he can even imagine playing in a team with his old teammates again. But then on a less competitive level. "Maybe with the old guys in the second league." That would be a good plan for retirement, he jokes.