Spain reign in the city of the Seine

State Of The Play

Spain made no mistakes and had the added value of goalkeeper Martina Terre with a match-winning 15 saves and Bea Ortiz scoring four goals, showing Australia what was required to win gold. Spain had the 7-5 advantage at the final break and Australia refused to lie down, scoring the final two goals when Spain took an unassailable four-goal lead inside the final two minutes. Spain proved unstoppable this tournament, while Australia was also without blemish going into the final, although with three penalty-shootout victories.

Alice Williams scored five goals for Australia, was the tournament’s leading scorer with 21 goals and was named Most Valuable Player in Paris.

In the bronze-medal clash, Netherlands captain Sabrina van der Sloot played possibly the finest match of her long career, scoring six goals to set her team up for the historic victory. It was Netherlands second medal after the Beijing 2008 gold-medal win over USA and several Olympiads in the wilderness.

In the lower classifications, Hungary needed a penalty shootout to defeat Italy 15-12, closing at 11-11 and winning the shootout 4-1. Greece trounced Canada 16-10 for seventh place.

Classification 1-2 (Gold Medal)

Match 32, AUSTRALIA 9 SPAIN 11 (2-2, 0-1, 3-4, 4-4)

Spain has finally broken through for a gold medal, going through unbeaten and downing Sydney 2000 gold medallist Australia 11-9 in a thrilling finale to the women’s competition. Spain joins Australia, Italy, Netherlands and USA as women’s winners this century. For Spain, it goes one better than the silver medals of London 2012 and Tokyo 2020. For Australia it completes the set of medals with gold, silver and two bronzes. USA and Australia are the only teams to contest all seven editions.

Australia had not beaten Spain at a major event since the 2018 World Cup. Spain was third in Doha and second at the Europeans the month before. This completes as set of medals for 2024.

Australia was the first on the scoreboard with Alice Williams converting a penalty. Paula Leiton backhanded from centre forward, rising high out of the water for 1-1. Elena Ruiz converted her 18^th goal from the penalty line to give Spain 2-1. There were plenty of opportunities and blocks and goalkeepers made sure nothing went through, until Williams saw the possession clock and that quarter time was two seconds away, launching a missile from well outside for 2-2. Williams was quiet in the semifinal clash with USA, gaining two major fouls in the first quarter. Today she made sure of goals 17 and 18 in Paris. The second quarter was amazing with the display of defence. The goalkeepers had blinders in this period with Gabi Palm finishing the half with six saves and Martina Terre with 10. Australia had so much possession and the shots were on target, as was Terre with her fantastic vision.

Bea Ortiz doubled the score at 4-2 with a withering shot from eight metres, followed by a Ortiz penalty strike less than a minute later, for 5-2. Abby Andrews — whose family brought 40 people from Australia to the Olympics — sat up and lowered the margin to two from the same position she scored four goals from in the semifinal. Ortiz was fast on a six-metre foul for 6-3. Australia scored on an ejection, but it was disallowed. Australia called a timeout and Williams just managed to get the ball across the line for 6-4. Anni Espar sent in a penalty goal and Danijela Jackovich swatted in a rebound at centre forward, 28 seconds from the last break. Spain had 7-5 with only eight minutes of the women’s competition remaining. By this stage, Australia had 13 shots saved by Terre.

Sienna Hearn opened the final quarter for the Aussie Stingers after two previous shots were regained. Ortiz ripped in another deceptive shot from the top for 8-6 at 5:09. Maica Garcia drilled a shot from the top left for 9-6 at 4:12 after some swift passing. Williams scored her 20 goal from the top left on extra to narrow the margin to two once more, at 3:35. Espar scored on extra from deep left and Garcia was the recipient of a one-two pass for 11-7. Australia called a timeout for no joy, but on the next Aussie attack, Hearn belied her age and scored again at 0:54 and 11-8.

(ED: The final evoked memories for some special people in the La Defense Arena — members of the Sydney 2000 gold-medal-winning team. They included the manager of the Aussie Stingers, Bronwyn Smith (nee Mayer), assistant coach Taryn Woods, Aussie selector Debbie Watson and Yvette Higgins, who scored the winning goal in the final.)

Match Heroes

Terre for Spain with her 15 saves and heroics made her best in the cage in Paris; Ortiz for Spain with her four goals and 19 in Paris. Throw in Garcia with three and Espar with two and Spain was the complete team. Elena Ruiz scored once today for 18 goals. Williams was brilliant for the Stingers with four goals and a tournament-high 21, followed by Hearn with her two well-earned strikes. Goalkeeper Palm had seven saves.

Turning Point
Probably the second quarter where Spain gained a slim edge and kept the Stingers quiet. It was the start of the golden run.

Stats Don’t Lie
Spain converted four from nine on extra and defended 10 or 15, showing how strong the Spanish defence was. On penalties, Spain converted three and Australia one.

Bottom Line
Spain always looked like it could win, if it made the final. It did just that and justified its favouritism. Australia showed what it can play like, especially with a host of youngsters performing in Paris.

What They Said

Miguel OCA (ESP) — Head Coach

On winning gold:
"(I feel) a lot of happiness, I'm very happy and satisfied. We now want to celebrate together with all the team."

On winning gold as a player (at Atlanta 1996), and now as head coach:
"I don't think about that. Right now, I only think about enjoying the title with the team, and celebrating."

On taking silver medals at London 2012 and Tokyo 2020:
"This is high-level sport, and those things happen. I can't say if I would enjoy (this) more or less (if we hadn't been so close to gold before), because I don't know. We enjoy it a lot now, carrying the gold. It's a group of players with quality. They are very, very, very good competitors, and they have worked really well to achieve this."

Anni ESPAR (ESP) — Gold Medal/Two Goals

On claiming gold, after winning silver at London 2012 and Tokyo 2020:
"We weren't settled with another silver; we wanted the gold. We fought and we finally achieved that Olympic gold."

On all the Spanish support in the arena:
"Goosebumps, I don't have any words. It's not only the people here – a lot of people are following us through TV. I'm grateful for being able to live this."

On whom she wishes to thank:
"All my family, and the team-mates that couldn't be here but have been training with us. All the people that live this with us, and that make water polo grow."

Isabel PIRALKOVA (ESP) — Gold Medal

On winning gold:
"This is really special, this medal, my first Olympic medal, a gold one and with a piece of one of the most important monuments in the world, the Eiffel Tower. It's amazing. I can't believe it. I am living a dream. I will start to realise it in maybe two weeks. I am so excited."

Martina TERRE (ESP) — Goalkeeper/15 Saves

On whether she dreamed of delivering a match-winning performance in an Olympic Games final:
"No, no, no. Not in my wildest dreams. There's no response to that dream. I am so happy. This is every child's dream. It's my dream (having) come true. It's so easy to play in this team, so easy to dream with this team. I have got a lot of good team-mates, a lot of good players. Today we won, so it's our moment to shine and our moment to take it all in."

On wearing the gold medal around her neck:
"It's the best medal that I have and, obviously, it's gold. It's nice."

Elena RUIZ (ESP) — 18 Goals in Paris/Gold Medal

On winning gold:
"I'm very happy. I don't believe it yet. I'm very satisfied having achieved the Olympic gold. All the effort we have put in these (last few) years, and mostly this summer, was worth it. I will never forget this. I will have this engraved with fire (for) my whole life."

On the match:
"It was a very tough match; we were even all the time. It wasn't easy at any moment, but we were us. We took out everything that we had inside, and we could take it."

On Spain’s defensive work, and the performance of goalkeeper Martina Terre:
"To win a match, you need to defend well. And Martina was spectacular. I don't have words to describe what she has done every match, what she has been doing for years. She is a great goalkeeper, and a great person."

On winning with team-mates who are her idols:
"They are still my idols. I play with very good team-mates, that help me with everything. (It's) an enormous emotion, a big excitement going to play with them every day. I'm very happy playing with them, and I thank them a lot."

Bec RIPPON (AUS) — Head Coach

On becoming the first female coach of a women's water polo team to win an Olympic medal:
“I’m extremely proud of that. It's something that's a bonus. When I took the role, that wasn't my goal. I did this not because I'm female, I did it because I believe in the programme, I believe in the players, and the added bonus is that I'm doing something no one else has done. If that's now something people can look up to. I'm really proud of that.

“I was given the privilege of leading the Australian team and I just wanted to lead them in a way they deserved to be led and that I could inspire them and help them play an exciting brand of water polo. I have been inspired by many women around me who are coaching, and I have got a great network of women who are leading the way, so to join them and hopefully inspire the others, is a pretty big thing."

On which is dearer to her: the bronze medal she won as a player at Beijing 2008, or this silver:
"You will have to ask me that in a little while. They are two totally different experiences. It's hard to pick, but right at this moment I am so proud of this (silver). I’m not sure which one is nicer, but I'll take this one for now.”

On the loss to Spain:
“We clawed it back towards the end to get closer to Spain at the end of the game, but it was just too late. We've had a really good run of chasing teams down. We weren't really in front today, so we were chasing the whole time."

On how she will celebrate:
“I’m going to just step back for a minute, take a breath and appreciate what we've actually done.”

ALICE WILLIAMS (AUS) — Five Goals/Most Valuable Player

On becoming an Olympic silver medallist at her first Olympic Games:
"(Being a) gold (medallist) sounds a bit better. We were so close to it, but I'll take silver if I have to. I think in a few days I might take a step back and look at this tournament. It's been phenomenal. We were undefeated until the gold-medal game. No one expected that but us. We surprised the world and I think we should really be proud of ourselves for what we have done."

On her message to her younger self:
"You will make me cry. I will tell her, 'I'm so proud of everything you did to get here. It hasn't been easy. I've been deselected, I've been injured, (and) sick a million times. But I'm so proud of your resilience and everything you went through to get to where you are’."

On the final:
"In the game (today), they just showed a bit more experience than we did... It came down to experience. But we'll take this away with us, we'll look at it. But, overall, we are really, really proud of ourselves. It's pretty incredible what we put forward, and it's really promising for the future for LA (2028) and Brisbane (2032)."

On being Australia's top scorer in the final with five goals:
"It's kind of hard to come to terms with this at the moment because no matter what, whether the lead goal-scorer or not, a win is a team effort, and unfortunately we couldn't get there today. We put in the effort till the very end, but it's been a little disappointing."

On what the silver medal could mean for water polo, especially the women's game, in Australia:
"I think it's huge. I really hope we've inspired a lot of young kids to start because it starts from the grassroots, and that's how we got here. I'm standing on the shoulders of all the Stingers that came before me. It's incredible that we've felt the support (of the Australia fans) through and through from day one and, I think, that is truly what really helped us get to the point we are today. To everyone at home, everyone here, to everyone who has been in the pool with us, thank you so much."

Keesja GOFERS (AUS) — Silver Medal

On taking silver:
“It's an absolutely amazing result for Australia. We put everything on the line for that game; we didn't quite get there, but a silver medal for Australia is incredible. Spain are a very impressive team. They've got great shooters, they've got really strong centre forwards. We thought we could come back, but we just weren't able to do that today.

“The belief in this team and the culture we've created, that Bec (Rippon) our coach has created, is really amazing. I’m very excited to see where this team can go and where this result can take us.”

On achieving a better result than her sister, Taniele GOFERS, who took bronze at Beijing 2008:
“Ha, I hadn’t thought of that. I did see my sister in the crowd. She was probably cheering the loudest out of anyone in the stands today, along with the rest of my family. She's so proud of me and was probably rooting for me to go two better.”

On her one-year-old daughter, Teleri, being in the crowd:
“When I walked out, I made eye contact with her and it was amazing to walk out and see her waving and cheering me on. Throughout this entire cycle, she's my reason why, she's my inspiration. I hope I did her proud.”

On her silver medal:
“I'm going to have to claw it out of my daughter's hands. She really liked the look of it.  When I showed it to her, she put it straight around her neck. She didn't drop it, so that's the first step. It's quite heavy and I don't mind a little bit of extra weight around the neck. It feels good.”

Classification 3-4 (Bronze Medal)

Match 31, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 10 NETHERLANDS 11 (3-2, 4-1, 2-3, 1-4)

Netherlands came from 9-5 down in the third quarter to defeat perennial podium visitor USA with a buzzer-beater from exceptional Dutch captain Sabrina van der Sloot. Under head coach Adam Krikorian and his 15-year reign, USA teams have swept all before them with 27 major tournaments. This was a rarity where there was no gold, but not even a medal as the team suffered three defeats at the one event, also unheard of. The rest of the world has arrived.

For Ryann Neushul, it would have continued the tradition of placing a member of the family on the Olympic podium. Older sisters Riley Neushul and Jamie Neushul won gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 respectively. For captain Maggie Steffens, the dream of a fourth gold medal was doused by Australia and now a fourth Olympic medal obliterated by Netherlands. She would have joined legends and International Swimming Hall of Famers Heather Petri and Brenda Villa as USA four-time medallists.

Both teams looked comfortable in the first quarter, eliminating mistakes made throughout the tournament. Nerves seemed to have been left at the door. Rachel Fattal found herself free on counter and Dutch captain Sabrina van der Sloot converted extra from the deep left. Neushul and Maddie Musselman scored identical shots on extra and van der Sloot played a similar shot from the top, on extra, finding the top right.

The first three attacks featured errors and the fourth a block of a USA shot. As with the previous four goals, USA scored two more of the same, this time through Olympic debutantes Jenna Flynn, with her 12^th, and 18-year-old Emily Ausmus. The Dutch called a timeout and the head coach went bananas. The result was a goal to Simone van de Kraats for her 13^th goal. Kaleigh Gilchrist and Neushul with a second, sent USA to the third quarter with a 7-3 lead.

Van der Sloot continued her brilliant form with another screamer from the bottom left to start the third period. Penalty goals were traded with Maddie Musselman burying the demons of her shootout miss that caused the loss to Australia in the semifinals. Lola Moolhuijzen succeeded for the Dutch. Jordan Raney scored from the top right, gaining a deflection into goal for 9-5 and van der Sloot on counter for 9-6. Neushul had her penalty attempt smacked down by Laura Aarts and the margin was three after three quarters.

Van der Sloot (33) converted a penalty foul to open the fourth period and trimmed the margin to two. Flynn stepped up at the top for her 13^th goal and 10-7 at 4:26, making it harder for the Dutch to get back into the match. Vivian Sevenich scored off the right-post position on a cross pass from the left on extra for 10-8 at 3:54. Just 40 seconds later, Sevenich backhanded a goal while three defenders were on her and goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson a metre back — it was 10-9 at 3:14. USA took a timeout and Musselman had her first-pass shot stopped by Aarts. Bente Rogge scored on extra at the far end by 1:19 and 10-10. Aarts saved another and the Dutch went to a timeout with nine seconds remaining. Van der Sloot brought the ball upfield, moved to six metres and rifled the shot into the bottom right on one second left for 11-10. USA set up for the shot and the ball went to Johnson, who inadvertently baulked and the buzzer went, gifting Netherlands the bronze medal to go with the gold of 2008.

Match Heroes
Van der Sloot, who finished the tournament on an absolute high and 14 goals, to be Netherlands’ best. Simone van de Kraats, with one goal today, finished with 13. Sevenich scored twice today for a final tally of nine, the same number as Bente Rogge. For USA, Musselman (13), Flynn (13) and Neushul scored twice.

Turning Point
USA winning the second quarter 4-1 and then Netherlands dominating the final quarter 4-1 with van der Sloot’s winner.

Stats Don’t Lie
Netherlands scored four from eight on extra and USA five from nine. Netherlands had four more shots than USA. USA went one from two on penalty and the Dutch two from two.

Bottom Line
USA was denied a shot at a fourth consecutive gold medal so, did not want to leave Paris empty-handed. However, Netherlands battled hard and earned a glorious come-from-behind victory to add to the world title of 2023, the European title of 2024 and now the Olympic bronze medal. Netherlands was sixth in Tokyo 2020 after not qualifying in the previous two Olympics. USA has missed the podium for the first time as a new era of women’s water polo emerges.

What They Said
Eva DOUDESIS (NED) — Head Coach

On captain Sabrina van der Sloot scoring six goals, including the winner with one second remaining:
“Sabrina is a special person. Sabrina is the best personality of Dutch water polo in our history. I truly believe it, and today I think she has the crown on her head.”

On his team coming back from 9-5 down:
“They expressed big mental strength. All of them. I love them. We truly believed we can do it. A great team, a golden team. We won the bronze, but we could (have) won the gold also."

On the performance of goalkeeper Laura Aarts after a difficult first half:
“After the second (quarter), (in the) middle of the third period, we changed a bit of defence. We decided to take some risks. We decided to give some space on the right side to them and Laura was there; she was great. She grew up a lot as a person in the last (few) years, and she grew up as a keeper during this tournament.”

Sabrina VAN DER SLOOT (NED) — Captain/Six Goals

On her winning goal in the last second of the game:
“I thought they were going to attack me because I'd already scored five, but they didn’t, so I was like, ‘Well, if you're not going to attack me, I'm going to shoot it’. And it was amazing it went in. I (just) saw this little hole. It was amazing.”

On coming back from behind to win the bronze:
“I believed the whole time. But I saw in some girls’ eyes that maybe sometimes they were like, ‘Oh, shit'. I’m just really happy and it's a team effort. I think we're really good when we are behind, we've shown that a lot this tournament.”

On the team adding Olympic bronze to the European gold they won in January:
“This team is amazing. I've never been in a team like this. All the girls are really open and we have a really strong emotional connection.

Vivian SEVENICH (NED) — Goal Scorer

On taking bronze:
“What an amazing feeling. We just kept fighting until the end. At this Olympics you can go out one way or the other, and we chose the best way possible. I'm freaking proud of the team. I can't stop crying. I still don't believe it, to celebrate it here in Paris. There's so many friends and family here, the Orange army was huge. The support we felt in the last quarter when they helped scream us to the other side of the pool, and to keep fighting. That was very special.”

On coming back from 9-5 down:
“All you can do is keep playing and keep fighting and show who you are.”

On captain VAN DER SLOOT:
“Oh my god, this girl is amazing. Our captain, she always leads the way. I'm very proud of her. She even managed to show us the way today in this very difficult game. That's what she does best. She's always there for us. She's so important inside and outside the water."

On VAN DER SLOOT’s winning goal in the last second:
“When I saw Sabrina faking, faking, faking, I knew she was going to score. I was like, 'Whoa, this is a very good situation for us'. It was very exciting, but I was not that surprised she scored because I had all the faith in her.”

Nina TEN BROEK (NED) — Athlete
On the victory:
"My emotions were going up and down. It's been a rollercoaster, this game. I think all the game we were behind but our team never, never gives up. We also know the USA is a really good team, but if you never give up, you always get the chance to win a game.

"We know that even if we don't start that good in the game, there's a lot of time. It's really a strength of our team to just keep going, and we know that we will find an opportunity to score and a chance to block the ball. We have shown the world that we're among the best teams. We're a really good team with a lot of different characters. That's what makes us that good."

Adam KRIKORIAN (USA) — Head Coach

On the team's struggles in the fourth quarter:
"We didn't handle that very well. It's a big moment, and it seemed a little too big at times, to be honest. In these big games, sometimes it's about who's able to play with courage and just be able to execute towards the end of the game. Obviously, they did a much better job of that."

On facing good teams, and how tight the matches are:
"One of the frustrating things for me is that everyone on the outside has no idea how difficult this is, how hard it is to win. We made it look easy, but it was anything but that for those three Olympic Games (United States won gold in the previous three Olympic Games).

"In the last three years, (Netherlands) and Spain, in my opinion, are the two best teams. It's just tough for us to match up with their physicality. Not that we can't win, but their length and their physicality, and you saw their speed, and it was a little too much for us at the end."

On his future:
"Well, they (have) got to want me back. You never know, sometimes you don't always feel like you're valued. For me, it's about having the love for what you do; the willingness to go through the process; the grind of trying to be the best every day and making sure that you are bringing the right ingredient to the team. Lastly, you've got to always check with (the family). This takes a lot, and I don't want emotion to play a part in my decision, so I'm going to make sure I take the needed time."

Maddie MUSSELMAN (USA) — Two Goals

On USA’s struggles to score late in the game:
"I haven't been able to put my finger on it. I thought we started off great, exactly the way we wanted to start. We even talked about the momentum that (Netherlands) can get, and being able to stop it. And somehow we just weren't able to do it again. Coming down to defence, getting defensive stops. I also think (we) kind of stopped playing on offence a bit as well. I don't think it was nerves or tediousness; I just think it was (a) lapse of focus, and something we've repeatedly talked about and couldn't get right."

On preparing for the match:
"We were ready to go. Coming off a loss and being able to end on a win was (the) goal. You lose (a semifinal), obviously heartbreaking, but then to be able to bounce back and have the courage and the excitement to play in a bronze-medal game. We've never done it before. It was exciting and motivating trying to carry that into the game. We started off well but we weren't able to finish well."

On her journey to Paris 2024:
"It was so special and it was super fun. I have no regrets just because we didn't get it done. This is by far the most enjoyable team I've ever been a part of. Personally, with Pat and everything he's gone through (Patrick WOEPSE, USA, her husband, has stage-four lung cancer), (I'm) just super proud of the ability for me to be here. (To) play for him was super fun. No regrets there.

"Going into the Olympics I told myself I wanted to enjoy every minute of it, and I did. It's easy to look at your results and define that journey by that result. But I enjoyed every step along the way. I'm happy for where I am right now."

On looking to bounce back at Los Angeles 2028:
"It's hard to think about that right away. You think, 'OK, next time I'm gonna do this, this and this'. But right now, it's going to take a little bit more reflection before I think about what that looks like. It is a cool opportunity to have it on home soil."

Maggie STEFFENS (USA) — Captain

On USA scoring just one goal in the final quarter:
"We played a similar game versus Australia, where we had a good lead. If we had just stayed focused and (done) the simple things, we could have got the win. But we lost a little bit of focus, and let (Netherlands) get the momentum they needed to come back from a three, four-goal (deficit). That was the difference. It is not necessarily one goal, or one moment, but allowing the focus to slip and (Netherlands) to come back."

On the journey to Paris 2024:
"It's all about the journey; the destination is a by-product. It's difficult that the destination, the goal and the mission (weren't) completed. But the journey is everything, the team is everything. It's going to be really difficult right now. But I'm super grateful for this team and this process."

On what lies ahead:
"Before this game, there's no past, you can't dwell on the past, and there's no future. You really need to stay in the present. I feel like we let the present slip away from us a little bit in the second half. Right now, we need to be present. We need to be with our team-mates, we need to feel the feels. Moving forward, we'll see."

Classification 5-6
Match 30, HUNGARY 15 ITALY 12 in penalty shootout. FT: 11-11. Pens: 4-1. (3-3, 5-4, 0-2, 3-2)

Hungary  gained its fourth win in Paris and fifth position overall thanks to a penalty-shootout victory over Italy, Hungary won the last period 3-2, but needed the last two goals to enforce the follow-on with penalties. Hungary was perfect and Italy had two goals stopped by Alda Magyari.

It was a tight first quarter with the match level at three by the break. veteran Roberta Bianconi converted extra for Italy and Hungarian captain Rita Keszthelyi replied on penalty. Italian skipper Valeria Palmieri scooped in a shot from centre forward to give Italy a 2-1 lead. Krisztina Garda smashed in the equaliser on extra and Natasa Rybanska worked for the extra and received the pass on the left post to score for 3-2. Agnese Cocchiere took a cross pass at two metres for 3-3. Keszthelyi had a chance for her 19^th goal, but bounced the penalty shot into the crossbar and could not retrieve.

Kamilla Farago and Greta Kurucz-Gurisatti shot Hungary to 5-3 with Bianconi responding. Geraldine Mahieu scored on extra from the right post on a near pass for 6-4. Claudia Marletta sealed her 14^th of the tournament on extra, barring down. Kurucz-Gurisatti and Giulia Viacava swapped goals on extra and then Giuditta Galardi and Vanda Valyi traded for 8-7 by halftime in Hungary’s favour.

Silvia Avegno converted a penalty inside the first minute of the third period. Italy called a timeout but both shots failed to find their mark. It was not until 1:39 that Marletta scored on extra from deep left to regain the lead it had not had since the first three minutes.  A Hungarian timeout was to no avail and Italy had the lead heading into the final spell. Marletta converted extra from top right to give the Italians a two-goal advantage at 4:30. Keszthelyi scored off a six-metre foul and Bianconi, a silver medallist at Rio 2016, shot from the top right for 11-9. Hungary used a timeout to set up Kurucz-Gurisatti on extra to score for 11-10. Next attack it was Garda who scored her second to level at 11-11. Italy used a timeout to shoot from the deep left — into the goalkeeper, sending the match to a shootout.

Hungary made sure of four shots while Italy missed its first two and then Palmieri scored the only successful shot. Fittingly, Kurucz-Gurisatti whipped in the winner for a 4-1-shootout victory and 15-12 overall.

Match Heroes
Kurucz-Gurisatti with three goals. Keszthelyi (top scorer with 19) and Garda (nine) struck twice each. For Hungary. Bianconi (11) and Marletta (16) fired in three each for Italy.   

Turning Point
The last goal that sent the match to penalties.

Stats Don’t Lie
Hungary scored seven from 17 on extra and Italy six from 13. Hungary shot 27 times to 18. On peanlties, Hungary scored one from two and Italy one from one.

Bottom Line
Hungary dropped from third in Tokyo and second in Doha this year. Italy did not qualify for Tokyo 2020 and was seventh at this year’s world championships.

Classification 7-8
Match 29, GREECE 16 CANADA 10 (2-2, 5-3, 5-2, 4-3)

Greece came through with a flourish, winning the last period 4-3 and taking seventh position. Greece was happy to be back in the Olympic fold after a 16-year hiatus and showed glimpses of quality water polo. For Canada, it was also a terrific experience, something that will spur on the nation as it builds to Los Angeles in 2028.

The match started with a missed penalty shot by Greece followed by an Eleni Xenaki centre-forward backhand. Verica Bakoc and Hayley McKelvey took Canada to the lead after six minutes. Xenaki struck again and it was 2-2 by the first break. A pair of Greek goals —Maria Patra with her first goal in Paris, from the penalty line — sent the Europeans to the lead, something it did not relinquish. Canadian captain Emma Wright scored from two metres for 4-3 and then Greece threw in three consecutive goals for a punishing 7-3 advantage at 1:22. Axelle Crevier and Wright boldly made it 7-5 by halftime.

Patra fired in another from the top for her second from 11 attempts in Paris to start the third quarter. Crevier — whose mother Marie-Claude Deslieres played the inaugural women’s Olympics —  scored her third from the top on extra. Goals were traded and three more Greek scores pushed the margin out to five by the final break.

It was a glorious final quarter as both teams felt the weight of expectation lifted while the Olympic flame still glowed in their minds and bodies. Eirini Ninou with her second and captain Margarita Plevritou with her second as well, took Greece out to 14-7.Elyse Lemay Lavoie and Kindred Paul grabbed two back for Canada; Ninou and Eleftheria Plevritou boosted the score to 16-9 with Crevier completing the scoring for her third and eighth in Paris for 16-10.

Match Heroes
Ninou and Giannopoulou scored three each for Greece. Xenaki topped her team’s scoring with 11 goals. Crevier did the same for Canada with Wright (12 in Paris) and McKelvey getting a pair each.

Turning Point
Greece’s 5-3 third period to create a five-goal buffer.

Stats Don’t Lie
Greece converted six from 10 on extra and defended seven from 12. Greece missed one of its two penalty shots and Canada netted once.

Bottom Line
Greece is the higher-ranked team and Canada was lucky to gain an Olympic spot, something it relished by qualifying for the quarterfinals, justifying its spot. Greece has silver from 2004 and did not qualify for the last three Olympic Games. Its last appearance was eighth in Beijing 2008. For Canada, it was one slip down the ladder from Tokyo. Previously it was seventh in Athens 2004 and fifth in Sydney 2000.

Final Classifications:

1. Spain
2. Australia
3. Netherlands
4. United States of America
5. Hungary
6. Italy
7. Greece
8. Canada
9. France
10. China