This photo sums up everything I feel about water polo, without ever having played the sport.
From the look of it, water polo combines the psychological torment of playing handball against an eighth grader with the brutality of ice hockey and lacrosse, all with the added bonus of potentially drowning.
It's no wonder Bleacher Report ranked water polo as the number one toughest sport in the entire world.
"With all these big bodies banging into each other, all the clutching and grabbing under the water, you have to stay close or you risk getting injured. You also have to know how to get away with enough," Russell McKinnon, a former New Zealand player, told ESPN in 2012.
Similar to soccer, there are theatrics involved in playing water polo and effectively fouling your opponent without getting caught.
Imagine playing a sport in which your opponents sharpening their finger and toe nails (for optimal scratching effect) was so commonplace that an official had to check their hands and feet before every game.
How is this a thing. Seriously.
Though violence in modern water polo games has never reached these heights (yet), its still considered to be a brutal sport.
The potential for bodily harm combined with inevitably violence means water polo is safely assumed to be the most difficult sport there is. So next time you tune in to the Rio coverage, and see a bunch of grown adults splashing about in a pool, know that they're probably the toughest athletes in the world.