In an interview I conducted with her at the first women’s Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Palermo, Sicily in 2000, she said: “When I made the planning for all those years, I always said that 2000 would be the year (women in) the Olympics. I always had that in my planning.”

Her diligent work, along with luminaries from Australia and the United States of America, made it a reality.

How long had she been working on the challenge? “Since 1976 with the first tournament for clubs in Canada and then we held a tournament in Commerce in the USA, near Los Angeles. That was the second time and from that moment I formed a committee with Sandy Nitta (USA) and Paul Gair (Australia) and we worked in each of our continents. Europe had a lot to develop because only two clubs played women’s water polo in Germany and four clubs in Belgium. But, of course, in the Netherlands we had a competition running because it was the national sport,” she said.

De Wit emphasised the importance of the Women’s Water Polo World Cup.

“It was the starting point. I asked FINA to stage a demonstration in Berlin at the 1978 World Championships. They agreed. The next year, 1979, we gained the FINA Cup in Merced in California. I wanted FINA on the name. In 1978, FINA President Bob Helmick (sic, Javier Ostos Mora was president in 1978) made me chairman of the development committee, and also the treasurer and also the secretary, so I was very busy. I then asked all the countries if they could start women’s water polo. Slowly, step by step, I started to promote the sport in Europe.”

De Wit wanted an unofficial World Championship in 1982. “I asked Bob Helmick (sic, became president in 1984) to have the championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Helmick agreed and we went ahead with these championships with the aim of 1986 being the first official titles.”

While hailing from Netherlands, de Wit shifted to France and sat for  eight years on the European Technical Water Polo Committee as a French delegate while always promoting the women’s side of the sport.

Sandy Nitta, who played with and coached USA women, had plenty of kind words about the legend.

“Boy, what do I say about a pioneer, leader, and a super friend? I will remember my friend with her high heels, hair in a bun, her skirts that she could pack any way and they spring back to normal. Always dressed up! 

“I will remember Thea at the World Championships in Madrid, Spain, working behind the table correcting mistakes and running a smooth officials’ table! Before we would have kids running our tables or adults that really did not know the game. Thea made women’s water polo become professional. I was very proud at that moment knowing people cared about women’s water polo.”

Added Nitta: “I remember when we (her oldest daughter, her friend from France and Vaune and I) driving from France to Holland and Thea would speak to her daughter in French, the French friend in Dutch and to (USA legend) Vaune (Kadlubek) in Dutch and me in French! After five minutes we decided to just speak English!  

“Thea was a very caring person who was a great mother, friend and hard worker. Thea was a great cook. When I was backpacking across Europe, I stopped by to visit with Thea when she lived in France and I had a can of spaghetti and she turned it into a feast,” Nitta said. 

Australian water polo legend Leanne Barnes, who carried the torch for inclusion in the Olympics, remembers.

“As a national team player for Australia in the later 1970s, I was in awe of Thea as the leader of all things Dutch and European in water polo. SO knowledgeable, passionate and committed to her players, team, the sport in general and particularly the inequity of the situation regarding women’s Olympic dreams.

Thea was always stylishly poolside and an imposing opponent. In contrast in T shirt, shorts or a trackie,” Barnes recalled “I felt a need to up my game...but Thea didn’t care – she was my friend and colleague and never made me feel  a need to change.

When I moved to working with Thea and Jane Hale and Claude Lavoire (on women’s water polo Olympic inclusion starting for me in 1982) I got to know a beautiful and caring individual who could instil terror in FINA (now World Aquatics) personnel, the IOC and LEN. But to us she was always there, present and focused on ’right is might'.

“Thea loved her family, her fashion work and the Dutch team. but her passion was also for all who played our sport and getting the right decision. She was a leader in this arena, recognised across the world and she leaves an amazing legacy and many friends for whom she always wanted the best,” Barnes said.

Here is the International Swimming Hall of Fame induction write-up from 2005, courtesy of Meg Keller-Marvin:

FOR THE RECORD: First to Promote and Succeed in Developing International Women’s Water Polo; Chair and Secretary of FINA’s Water Polo Sub-Committee (1978 – 1988); Member of LEN Water Polo Committee Promoting Women’s Water Polo in all of Europe; Single Most Important Person in Starting Women’s Water Polo for Olympic Games Competition (2000); Water Polo Player and Dutch National Team Manager.

Thea de Wit has been the single most important individual responsible for the international acceptance of women’s water polo as an Olympic sport. Her tenacity and persistence in promoting water polo for women on an international level, lead to the formation of FINA’s and other committees which brought world-wide attention to the sport.

She learned to swim at age eight when World War II began and the German Army occupied the Netherlands. It was another five years until the end of the war when Thea became a member of Hall of Fame Coach Jan Stender’s team, Club ZV De Robben, in Hilversum, playing water polo and swimming. She swam breaststroke and freestyle, but specialised in long distance, swimming the three hour fifteen minute race in the sea at a temperature of 16 degrees celsius (62 degrees fahrenheit). Additionally a club water polo match was played each Saturday somewhere in the Netherlands and for many years her club was the best in the country.

Following high school, she trained as a children’s nanny, took courses in short hand and typing and qualified as a swimming teacher. In 1951, at age 18 she became a water polo referee officiating in tournaments throughout the country.

For the next two years, while living in Geneva to improve her language skills, she became the Swiss National Champion in the 100m and 400m freestyle. For another two years living in Ashford, England, she qualified as a nurse. Then it was back to Holland for marriage and the birth of two daughters.

In 1961 she went back to ZV De Robben to teach children swimming and play water polo, becoming a member of the club Board. The European Cup for men’s water polo had just begun and she organised her club’s participation. She and her husband had a big radio/TV business which helped raise money for the club. But she wanted to promote women’s water polo, and in 1975 became a member of the Royal Dutch Swimming Federation (K.N.Z.B). She had heard The University of Quebec was looking for club teams to play water polo matches, and in February 1977, she helped form the first tournament for club teams in Quebec with two teams from the Netherlands and one each from the USA, Australia, Puerto Rico and Canada. The tournament continued later in the year in Commerce, CA (USA) with an added team from New Zealand.

Thea then formed a committee which proposed to FINA a demonstration at the Berlin World Championships in 1978, with national teams from the USA, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany. Accepted, the tournament attracted considerable attention. During the tournament, FINA Honorary Secretary Bob Helmick nominated Thea as Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer of the Women’s Promoting Committee of FINA. Because women’s water polo was almost non-existent in Europe, it became the region of biggest challenge. The K.N.Z.B. provided Thea with practical and financial support.

In 1979, FINA President Javier Ostos agreed to the first FINA Water Polo World Cup to be held in the United States, at Merced, California. For lack of participants, this took the form of a double competition. Thea fought to increase the awareness of women’s water polo in European countries by giving press conferences and TV interviews. She always put FINA to the forefront in all activities to convince them that this was a new and developing sport for women. In 1980, the World Cup was in the Netherlands, and in 1981 in Brisbane, Australia. At the 1981 European Championships in Split, FINA President Ante Lambassa, also President of LEN, was persuaded to hold a tournament during the World Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, which became the Lambassa Cup.

Thea spoke to the European Congress in Malta in 1982 and at every meeting of FINA to promote women’s water polo and the Promoting Committee. She attended every FINA Technical Water Polo Committee meeting, Thea being the only woman in a room of men talking about the same sport with the only difference being physical strength of the players. Even international referees had difficulty adapting to the difference of men and women. Despite resistance, the World Cup for women was held every two years and in 1985 the first European Championships took place in Oslo as well as the qualifying tournament for the 1986 Madrid World Championships. FINA Treasurer and LEN President Klaas Van der Pol (NED), Jane Hale (USA) and Leanne Barnes (AUS) all gave great support.

All the while, Thea was Manager of the Dutch National Team (until 1986) and a member (from 1986) of the Technical European Water Polo Committee. She traveled to all meetings and served as a delegate to evaluate tournament referees and organisers. In 1988, she was elected to the FINA Sub-Committee for Women’s Water Polo. FINA elected her to supervise all aquatic disciplines and organise competition press conferences at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It was another opportunity to promote women’s water polo.

Thea was instrumental in Russia’s and Greece’s emergence on the international scene. At the 1991 Perth World Championships women’s water polo made great strides, encouraging Thea and others to push the IOC for Olympic water polo competition. Thea was a deck official at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. She started the Junior World Championships in 1996. After a long campaign her dream came to fruition and the 2000 Sydney Olympics held the first Women’s Water Polo Olympic Competition.

Thea remained a member of the FINA Sub-Committee until 1992 receiving the FINA silver pin and the LEN Technical Water Polo Committee until 1995 receiving the gold medal. She has received the K.N.Z.B. highest distinction and is an Honorary Member of Club “De Robben” after having served as vice president for 20 years.

Since 1995, Thea has lived in France and is active in water polo in the French Swimming Federation. At present there are about 46 countries in the world which have a national women’s water polo championship and some countries, have semi-professional or professional players and leagues.

Many thanks to ISHOF for this biography, written in 2005.