Serbia beats Croatia 13-11 for its third consecutive gold medal in men’s water polo at the Olympics

NANTERRE, France (AP) — It happened in Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Paris. The men’s water polo tournament at the Olympics ended the same way each time.

With a Serbian flag hanging over a goal.

Milos Cuk scored three times, Radoslav Filipovic made 10 saves and Serbia beat Croatia 13-11 on Sunday for its third consecutive gold medal.

Nikola Dedovic and captain Nikola Jaksic each had two goals as Serbia used a balanced attack to earn its third consecutive win since its shaky start in the preliminary round of the Paris Games.

“We played better every single game,” Jaksic said. “It was the idea that we wanted to do in the first place. We won the game deservedly so.”

Serbia joined Britain (1908-1920) and Hungary (2000-2008) as the only countries to win three straight Olympic titles in men’s water polo. It also took home bronze in 2008 and 2012.

The United States beat Hungary 11-8 in the bronze-medal match. It’s the first medal for the U.S. men since the team lost to Hungary in the final of the 2008 Olympics.

Just like in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, Serbia was just OK in group play before going to a different level in the last part of the tournament. It was pushed by Greece in the quarterfinals, but Jaksic lifted his team to a 12-11 victory when he connected on a perfect skip shot with 3 seconds left.

“We are famous for this,” said Dusan Mandic, a four-time medal winner who was the high scorer at the Paris Games with 26 goals. “We are very hard to beat in the elimination phase. Everybody, I think, underestimated us a little bit because of the results in the group. It happens.

“We were prepared for when it was the most important.”

After closing out rival Croatia, Serbia’s players and coaches poured into the pool to celebrate. Per their usual routine, they hung the Serbian flag over one of the goals at Paris La Defense Arena.

Jerko Marinic Kragic scored three times for Croatia, which won the world championships in February. Konstantin Kharkov and Loren Fatovic each had two goals.

“We weren’t aggressive enough to win this game,” Fatovic said. “We left our goalkeepers without any aggressive defense and blocks.”

Croatia got off to a slow start and Serbia opened a 7-3 lead on Strahinja Rasovic’s goal with 4:51 left in the first half.

Croatia closed to 11-9 when Josip Vrlic muscled one home with 7:20 remaining in the fourth. But Dedovic restored Serbia’s three-goal lead when he dropped down for a well-placed sidearm skip shot with 3:13 to go.

“This is the power of unity. This is the team spirit,” Mandic said. “This is defense, defense, defense until the end, sacrificing for each other.”

Adrian Weinberg led the U.S. to the victory over Hungary, making 16 saves in regulation and stopping Vince Vigvári in the penalty shootout. The U.S. also won bronze the last time Paris hosted the Summer Games in 1924.

Ben Hallock had two goals for the U.S., which bounced back after losing to Serbia in the semifinals.

“This is going to be the second-happiest day of my life, because I’m getting married in 20 days, so it’s a pretty good second,” U.S. attacker Alex Bowen said. “Maybe it’ll hold that until I have a kid. Busy summer.”

Gergo Zalanki and Denes Varga each had two goals for Hungary, the winningest men’s water polo program in history. Hungary took home the bronze at the Tokyo Games.

“In Hungary, we have a strong legacy in water polo,” Varga said. “If we don’t win, there is a great disappointment.”

Hannes Daube, Max Irving and Bowen converted their opportunities in the penalty shootout, and Hungary was shut out in the tiebreaker. Varga hit the cage before Vigvári was turned away by Weinberg. When Gergo Zalanki hit the cage again, it was over.

As the U.S. coaches and players celebrated wildly — on the sideline and in the pool — Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” played on the sound system at the arena. Coach Dejan Udovicic waved his arms in the air to fire up the U.S. fans in the crowd.

“It’s 11 years I was waiting for this,” said Udovicic, who took over the U.S. program in 2013.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games