The U.S. Water Polo Team Wins All Games at the Games in Beijing and Loss of the Olympic Gold-medala (Gold) Pairs

The U.S. won all of its games at the Olympics. Though they had some close contests. The Americans had to beat Japan in the quarters and Germany in the semifinals on the back of overtime.

This title comes under the leadership of a new coach, Emma Hayes, and a revamped roster. Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson are three young players who have changed the team.

At 26 years of age, he is the oldest of the three Americans. She didn’t make the Olympic team in 2021 after being a substitute on the World Cup winning team. Then, in 2023 she tore her left patella tendon, months before the Women’s World Cup and faced a long recovery.

The game was also expected to be the final turn for Brazilian superstar Marta with her country’s international team. She said it was time for the team to be handed over to the next generation.

Instead, the team will miss out on the podium entirely for the first time since women’s water polo made its Olympic debut in 2000, with an 11-10 loss to the Netherlands on Saturday, in a stunning last-second victory.

“They worked their butts off, they did everything they could,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “All you can do, is you just try to put yourself in the best position possible, and you do everything you can, and then you gotta live with the result.”

The U.S. team led at halftime, 7-3. The game was in the balance until the Dutch scored a goal with a second left on the clock.

“I thought we came out great, started the game off the way wanted to, but we didn’t finish the way we needed to,” said Maddie Musselman. “Obviously, credit to Holland for sticking it out all the way into the end. We weren’t able to seize on that, but it shows the importance of staying in the moment.

The team lost in the semifinals to Australia in a penalty shoot out. The U.S. was also grappling with personal adversity outside of the pool.

Team captain Maggie Steffens shared earlier this week that her sister-in-law, who had traveled to Paris to cheer on the team, had died in what she described as a “medical emergency.”

I was proud of the way that I showed up for him, even though we did not win the gold medal or the bronze medal. “I hope he’s proud of the way that I played.”