For the first time in Olympic history, the US men’s water polo team outranked the US women’s squad by the end of the Games. In Paris, the US women paced fourth and the US men took bronze. It was a stunning turnabout.
In the 24 years that women have been competing in Olympic water polo, the US had never failed to make a podium – until Paris 2024, where the US lost its semifinal to Australia in a 14-13 shoot-out, then lost the bronze-medal game, 11-10, to the Netherlands and placed fourth overall.
Meanwhile the US men had been in the middle of a 16-year Olympic medal drought. At the last three Games, the men placed eighth (in London), tenth (in Rio), and sixth (in Tokyo) while the US women were on fire, winning three consecutive gold medals.
On Sunday, August 11, the tables turned at La Defense Arena in Paris when the US men won the bronze-medal game, beating Hungary, 11-8, in a penalty shoot-out after an 8-8 tie at the final whistle.
Sadly, both teams’ official hype man, rapper Flavor Flav, didn’t attend either bronze-medal game. (He reportedly had duties back in the US involving the Olympic handoff from Paris 2024 to Los Angeles 2028 during Sunday’s Closing Ceremony.)
Either way, the result was bittersweet for both teams.
Why the Women Missed the Medals
US women’s team captain Maggie Steffens said after the bronze-medal loss, " We lost a little bit of focus, and let [Netherlands] 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."
Adam Krikorian, US women’s head coach said, “We've been really nervous and tight. We're [also] small compared to most of the teams in the world, so that certainly has something to do with it. One of the frustrating things for me is that everyone on the outside has no idea how hard it is to win. We made it look easy, but it was anything but that for those three Olympic Games.”
Why the Men Won Bronze
According to two-time US Olympic goalkeeper Drew Holland, “I think our whole team is a lot more experienced. We’ve been in more of these moments. Also, I think we had a few lucky bounces, but for sure, we relied on our experience and had a lot more confidence down the stretch in these close games than we’ve had in the past.”
Three-time Olympic center Luca Cupido said that unlike past US teams, “we were able to retain 10 players from the last Olympics. You could see it today. As we were trailing in the last minute, the group stayed together. You could tell that we believe in each other. That’s the difference. Being together for a longer time, building closer relationships.”
In addition, US defender Marko Vavic said, “most of us have gotten another three years of experience and gotten three years older which is a big deal – to mature in this sport, develop your body and your mind – as you’re playing more competitive and high-level games.”
“This is probably going to be the second-happiest day in my life,” said defender Alex Bowen “because I’m getting married in 20 days. I’ve been playing water polo since I was 8 years old. I’ve been dreaming about this forever.”
Dual support
Despite the disparate results, both teams were pulling for each other. The US men watched the women’s bronze-medal loss on livestream as they were preparing for Sunday’s victory
“I still think the women’s program is the best in the world even though they didn’t medal,” Cupido said. “They’re gonna prove it next year.
“We were bummed how they ended,” Cupido added, “but we’re also happy about our bringing one medal back because, at the end of the day, it’s one program: men’s and women’s USA Water Polo is all one. Lately, we [men] haven’t been able to contribute and we’re happy that we were able to bring one medal to the program.”
“Every tournament is a different story,” Cupido said. “Sometimes you get momentum after one game and have it for the full tournament.”