Olympic water polo player left bloody after gruesome eye injury

A collision in the pool saw McDowell cut by her eye and left blood streaming down her cheek in dramatic scenes.

It was a painful incident for the Canadian and a difficult game for the nation as they were beaten 10-5 by Italy.

Follow all the action, news and reaction from Paris in our Olympics live blog

McDowell had scored for Canada before the cut to her face, but Roberta Bianconi and Roberta Claudia both scored twice for the Italians, while Valeria Palmieri, Silvia Avegno, Sofia Giustini, Domitilla Picozzi, Dafne Bettini, and Chiara Tabani also netted to secure a big victory.

Australia beat USA 14-13 on penalties to reach the gold medal match and Stingers centre-forward Matilda Kearns says it proved the spirit in the Aussie team.

‘That just shows exactly who we are as a team,’ she said. ‘We have a saying: last man standing.

‘Every single game throughout the whole Olympics – that’s our third penalty shootout in seven games, in just this Olympics alone, and we’ve come out on the winning side of every single one of those. It’s a testament to us, how we work under pressure, how we play for each other. We believe that we can get the job done.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.