NEW YORK, N.Y. — Princeton University alumna and two-time United States Women’s National Team Olympic Gold Medalist goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson ’17 was a recent guest on the podcast Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy.
Johnson discusses how she was introduced to the sport of water polo, how she remains the only Black woman to compete for the United States in water polo at the Olympic level and how she hopes to be an example of what’s possible in the sport and beyond. She also shares her perspective of the U.S. women’s water polo team finishing fourth at the 2024 Paris Games and how she’s embracing saying, “Yes,” to new opportunities post-Olympics (which includes Fashion Week in New York City, hanging with Taylor Swift at the VMAs and more!). She also dives into how her main goal is to simply “get the ball,” which propels her to limits even she can not imagine.
An All-America selection every season she competed at Princeton, Johnson led the United States to the gold medal in women’s water polo at the 2016 Rio and 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, becoming just the fifth Princeton athlete to ever win multiple gold medals.
She is among only two Tigers’ athletes ever to win an Olympic gold medal (in 2016) and then come back to compete at Princeton (former United States Senator/men’s basketball player Bill Bradley was the other).
The recipient of the C. Otto von Kienbusch and Cutino Awards during her senior season in 2017, she was the first player in Princeton women’s water polo history to be named first team All-America and third ever to be selected All-America in each of her four seasons. Johnson finished her Princeton career with a 100-17 record, along with a school-record 1,362 saves and a .693 save percentage. She was a 19-time CWPA Defensive Player of the Week award winner, a four-time first-team all-conference player and the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Player of the Year.
