By Steve Keating
TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States will play for a third consecutive women’s water polo Olympic gold medal after edging a determined Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team 15-11 on Thursday to set up a possible revenge match against Hungary.
After demolishing the ROC 18-5 in group play, the U.S. were expected to waltz into Saturday’s final but the Russians gave the reigning champions a fright before fading at the end.
Deadlocked at 11-11 late in the final quarter, the U.S. showed their gold medal pedigree down the closing stretch by scoring four unanswered goals, including two from Madeline Musselman.
“We’re not done yet, obviously a great win and we’ll probably celebrate for one meal and that’s about it and it’s onto the next game,” Musselman told reporters. “That’s just a testament to what this team wants to do.
“We’ve had a lot of success but this team hasn’t done anything yet, we haven’t won a medal yet I think we are looking for the opportunity at fighting for one.”
The U.S. await the winners of the semi-final between European champions Spain and Hungary later on Thursday at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre.
Hungary had earlier pulled off a big shock in group play, upsetting the Americans 10-9 to hand the U.S. their first Olympic defeat since the 2008 Beijing Games.
Since 2014, U.S. have been the sport’s dominant force, winning all 13 major international tournaments in which they have competed, including the 2015, 2017 and 2019 world championships.
The U.S. are also the only team to finish on the podium at every Olympic Games since women’s water polo was introduced to the programme in 2000.
While the Hungarian men have long been a water polo power, winning three consecutive gold from the 2000 Sydney Games, their women have yet to reach the Olympic podium.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Tokyo, Editing by Ed Osmond)
