HAVING missed out on London 2012 in controversial fashion, County Durham water polo player Scott Carpenter is finally set to realise his ambition of competing at an Olympic Games this summer. His only regret is that he has had to travel to the opposite side of the world to make his dreams come true.

Carpenter, who first played water polo at his local club in Sedgefield, was supposed to be the figurehead of Britain’s return to the Olympic fold in London.

Firmly established as the country’s number one player, he was offered the opportunity to join Spanish side Barcelona in the two years before the Games, with British Water Polo pledging to help fund the move.

However, no money was ever forthcoming, and having been told Britain would not be fielding a men’s water polo team at London 2012, he paid his own way to Spain to honour his contract.

Twelve months later, and the British authorities announced a major U-turn that saw a British team entered for London. The head coach at the time, Christian Iordache, contacted Carpenter and asked him to re-join the team, but was overruled by the authorities who did not want to consider players based outside Britain.

As a result, Carpenter was not involved as Britain failed to get out of their group in 2012, finishing 12th of the 12 competitors, and in the wake of the Olympics, the 27-year-old opted to turn his back on the country of his birth and seek Australian citizenship.

He had already spent time in Australia, playing for Victoria Tigers in 2009, and was on the Australian authorities’ radar as someone who could help them push for an Olympic medal in the future.

He returned to Australia and was fast-tracked through the qualification criteria, enabling him to make his international debut for the national team, nicknamed the Sharks, in a match against Italy last December.

Since then, he has cemented his place in the Australian senior side, but while he is eagerly looking forward to competing in Rio, he is disappointed he has had to switch nationality in order to make it happen.

Even if he had remained in Britain, a complete withdrawal of UK Sport funding means there will not be a British men’s or women’s team at this summer’s Olympics, and Carpenter despairs at the missed opportunity to build on the legacy of the London Games.

“Everything got thrown at 2012 and there’s not a lot left,” said the North-Easterner. “As far as a legacy is concerned, it’s almost the opposite. If you want to play water polo at a high level, you have to play elsewhere.”

For Carpenter, that meant starting a new life in Australia, a nation that has entered a water polo team at 13 Olympics, finishing fifth as recently as the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

Unlike the British authorities, the Australian water polo association could not do enough to make him feel welcome, and his career has gone from strength to strength since he made the decision to permanently relocate.

“As soon as I realised I wasn’t going to be involved (at London 2012), I had a team, a city and, almost, a country, waiting for me on the other side of the world,” said Carpenter. “I never really looked back.

“In a water polo context, it hasn’t really affected me at all. I’m pretty happy in Melbourne. I’ve got no regrets from my perspective, but it’s pretty raw for a lot of people who care a great deal about British water polo. There hasn’t been the legacy left for British water polo.”

Carpenter described his Australian debut, which was delayed because of an operation to reconstruct his shoulder, as an “extremely proud moment”, but has subsequently admitted the occasion was “slightly surreal”.

His domestic form within the Australian league system has been impressive, and while he is currently completing his recovery from a recurrence of his previous shoulder problem, he remains on track to make his Olympic debut in August.

“I came back, felt the best I’d ever been, and was averaging five goals a game through the first ten games of the Australian National League,” said Carpenter. “That was the best statistically I’ve ever played.

“If I can get over my shoulder injury, then I’ve got an excellent chance (of making the Olympics). I think that’s my main obstacle at the moment.”