The U.S. women’s water polo team dominated Italy in a 12-5 win in their gold medal match Friday to become the first women’s team to win gold at consecutive Summer Olympics. Two days before the opening ceremony of the Rio Games, Krikorian’s brother Blake was found dead in his vehicle at a Northern California beach. Maggie Steffens grabbed an American flag for the party on the pool deck.
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It was later after the medal ceremony that the women donned their medals around Krikorian’s neck, something the 2012 team had gotten the idea to do after reading Duke (and Team USA’s) basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s book, “The Gold Standard”.
The teams finished tied in kills (58-58) while the US led in blocks (16-7) and Italy led in aces (10-5).
Mexico forward Oribe Peralta previously held the record for fastest goal at the Olympics after scoring 29 seconds into the final in London four years ago, when the Mexicans upset Brazil 2-1 to win the gold.
According to The Post’s Adam Kilgore, the team won all six games in Rio by a 73-32 point margin. “The way we’ve done it, going into this tournament I was concerned because we hadn’t played any close games”. We played completely different than the games ever been played before.
[Barbara Bujka is] an excellent player and really risky.
Minutes earlier, the US defeated Hungary, 14-10, in the semifinals to advance to the gold-medal game against Italy on Friday.
Krikorian said nearing the end of the game he thought about his brother who died shortly before the start of the Olympic water polo tournament.
In this year’s Olympics, the USA women’s water polo team has proven itself to be in a different stratosphere than the rest of the competition.
In another Olympics dominated by US women, Steffens – the MVP and probably the best player in the world – and her teammates shined as brightly as any of them. The first came in in the 2004 semifinals which the Italians won on the way to a gold medal. The American’s lead at the half was 5-3.
Its one of the best teams Ive ever been a part of, and Ive been a part of some really awesome teams, Neushul said. Holt, who also had 10 kills, had as many blocks as the entire Italian team. We have speed. We have size. “I was striving to be a member of this team”.
As the defending world champion and heavy favorite entering the tournament, the US knows exactly what it wants.
Only the gold will be enough for a talented Brazilian team playing at home and considered the favorite in a tournament played mostly with under-23 squads and very few stars. He returned in time for an opening 11-4 victory over Spain, and then almost broke down in tears while talking about his brother after the win.
Blakes 49th birthday would have been Thursday, and Krikorians wife, Anicia Mendez, surprised him in Rio to be there with him for the sad day and then the final. I’m not going to say that it doesn’t make your heart warm.
Krikorian brushed away any talk of winning it all for him and his family, insisting Blake himself would think it was a ludicrous notion, but his players pledged their support for their grieving coach.
The second set was the exact opposite with Team USA falling behind and then battling back to earn a 28-26 win.
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“We’ve been working since London to get back to this point”, said Mathewson, out of Canyon High and UCLA.
