Makenzie Fischer

Makenzie Fischer (born March 29, 1997) is an American water polo player who was an All-American competing for Stanford University. She was part of the gold medal-winning American team at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, where she played in the centre back position. She was part of the gold medal-winning American teams at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was later a recipient of the Peter J. Cutino Award in her final year at Stanford in 2022 as the top collegiate water polo player of the year. Makenzie's sister Aria Fischer also played water polo for the U.S. National team and was a U.S. teammate when Makenzie won gold medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Jainero and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Makenzie's uncle, Martin Fischer, played goalkeeper for Stanford's men's water polo team.

In her early years, Makenzie was co-coached in age-group water polo by her father Erich at the Laguna Beach Water Polo Club, and later moved to the Saddleback El Toro (SET) water polo club.

Laguna Beach High Representing Laguna Beach High, in both 2014 and 2015, Makenzie was a Division I Champion in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section. She held a career scoring record for Laguna Beach of 456. In 2015, she was an important part of the Laguna Beach High water polo team that earned an unbeaten 31-0 record. In a notable distinction, she was twice a California Interscholastic Southern Section Player of the Year, and was twice a Player of the Year selection for the Orange County Register.

Stanford University

Fischer played water polo for the strong program at Stanford University under Head Coach John Tanner while majoring in mechanical engineering. In her Freshman year, she helped lead Stanford to an NCAA Championship. A versatile player, she could play as a Driver on offense at Stanford or in a strong defensive role as a Center Back or a Utility defender with the U.S. national team.

In 2019, she was an All-American first team honoree, earned MVP honors at the 2019 NCAA national championship, and was voted first team All-NCAA Tournament. In the 2019 season she was credited with over 80 goals. Strong in championship games, she was a 1stTeam NCAA All-Tournament honoree in 2017. She took off her first year at Stanford to train with the U.S. National team, known as Team USA.

Olympics 2016 Rio de Jainero Olympic gold

At 19, as one of the younger women's water polo team members at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Fischer won the gold medal at the Women's Olympic Water polo competition under the management of U.S. Olympic Women's Water Polo Head Coach Adam Krikorian. Krikorian had played water polo for UCLA, and had an outstanding record coaching the UCLA women's team. The American women's team, defending their 2012 gold medal, captured the gold for a second consecutive Olympics with a strong 12–5 victory over Italy, who had performed well in the preliminary rounds. The U.S. women's team became the only competitor that had received a medal in all five Olympic water polo tournaments open to women. Russia took home the bronze medal by defeating Hungary, a dominant international team.