NANTERRE, France — Draped in an American flag while ‘Party in the USA’ and ‘Empire State of Mind’ blasted through Paris La Défense Arena, goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg and the U.S. men’s water polo team celebrated.
With a thrilling 11-8 bronze-medal match victory over historical powerhouse Hungary on Sunday, the Americans won their first Olympic water polo medal since 2008.
It was the same color medal Team USA won 100 years ago at the 1924 Paris Games, and winning it boiled down to a shootout where Weinberg stood on his head to deny the Hungarians a single goal after regulation. It was, he said, because he can read his opponents so well.
‘There was a couple of times, those guys, for example, came up, waited for a second to see where I would go, and I was like, ‘OK, I know exactly what you’re trying to do,’’ said Weinberg, the 22-year-old who made 16 saves on 24 shots in his final 2024 Paris Olympics match.
‘If I’m present in a moment, thinking about what’s going on, then I can read that. But if I’m thinking about something else − thinking about, I don’t know, the score, whatever the case may be − I’m not going to be able to read that. So yeah, that tell for sure, I did that today.’
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Going into the fight for bronze, Weinberg said he was ‘battling demons.’
‘I was scared, anxious, nervous, everything you can think of,’ he said.
‘The whole tournament, I’ve honestly been pretty calm. But then today, I was like, ‘Damn, it’s a pretty serious game.’ (I) was super freaking nervous.’
But you’d never know based on the way he played and how his instincts kept Hungary off the board in the 3-0 shootout. Team USA attacker Ryder Dodd aptly called the goalkeeper the ‘backbone of our team.’
‘All those guys, my players, they well deserve what’s happened today,’ 11-year Team USA coach Dejan Udovičić said. ‘They were underestimated for a long period of time, and we knew that we have talent, but we were waiting (to) grow our experience and mature.’
In a close and physical match, Hungary took an 8-6 lead with 3:22 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Udovičić called a timeout – to calm his team, he said – from which the Americans emerged and quickly scored to pull within one
With less than two minutes left, two-time Olympic attacker Hannes Daube found the back of the Hungarian net to tie the match at 8-8, ultimately sending it to a shootout. Both late goals to tie it were in man-up situations, where the Americans previously struggled in their semifinal loss to Serbia.
‘Hungary is a very good team,’ said Alex Bowen, a 30-year-old attacker and three-time Olympian who posted one goal. ‘They have a history of water polo; it’s their national sport. It means a lot to beat them. …
‘To go from up one to down two, to tie it up … (with) less than two minutes left, to throw it into a shootout and to hold on – they had the last full minute of possession. We went block, block, block. It’s incredible. It’s a testament of the grit and determination of the team and the willingness to die for each other.’
American captain and three-time Olympian Ben Hallock, 26, led the team in scoring with two goals. Weinberg was phenomenal late, and he became the Americans’ hero and a brick wall in the shootout.
‘Great guy,’ Udovičić said about Weinberg. ‘He was going (through) some ups and downs. He was born in 2001. … I think he’s the youngest goalie by far, goalie here. We are expecting from him in the future. We work with him. We got two, three people who are working with him on a daily basis: tactics, preparation, mental preparation.’
And the first-time Olympic goalkeeper is already looking ahead.
‘It’s amazing − a big win for just not our sport but our country as well,’ Weinberg said.
‘I’m very excited for L.A. (in 2028).’
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