PARIS — Spain celebrated its first gold medal in Olympic women’s water polo Saturday by fending off Australia 11-9 to erase defeats in the finals at the 2020 Tokyo and 2012 London Games.
Maica Godoy put the Spaniards 11-7 up with a goal late in the fourth quarter and though Australia clawed back to within two, the Aussies ran out of time.
The third time proved to be the charm for Spain, three years after being trounced 14-5 in Tokyo and a dozen years after losing 8-5 in London to the United States.
Australia, inaugural champions at Sydney 2000, missed out on its first gold in 24 years but took its first medal since bronze in London.
There was no medal this time for the Americans, however. The United States had never been kept off the podium in women’s water polo.
Sabrina van der Sloot scored with less than a second on the clock as the Netherlands stunned the United States 11-10 in the bronze-medal match.
Her winner capped an incredible comeback by the Dutch, who trailed 9-6 in the final quarter but thumped in five goals to topple the three-time champions.
The Netherlands secured their first medal for 16 years, having beaten the Americans 9-8 for gold in the 2008 final in Beijing.
“I’m a little bit in shock,” U.S. attacker Maddie Musselman said.
“It just shows the importance of staying in the moment and we weren’t able to capitalize on that today.”
U.S. coach Adam Krikorian said he felt “sadness” for his team but was incredibly proud of his players.
“They worked their butts off today. They did everything they could,” he said, adding the opponent “obviously was the better team today. … It’s going to hurt for a while.”
With six goals from seven shots and two in the final quarter, the 33-year-old van der Sloot carried Netherlands to victory.
With the score locked at 10-10, the Netherlands staff called a time-out with eight seconds left after winning a turnover.
In possession after the restart, van der Sloot confronted a crowded U.S. goal-mouth before winding up and launching a rocket that skipped off the water and beat U.S. keeper Ashleigh Johnson inside the right post.
With 0.7 seconds left on the clock, the U.S. had just enough time for one last fling but Johnson’s long-range effort was easily blocked in front of the cage.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
