Water Polo
Water polo is somewhat hard to watch on TV because (1) the ball is sometimes hard to see and (2) there are tons of whistles that make no sense. But I watched a good amount.
- Venue: Yingdong Natatorium
- The U.S. men were led by Terry Schroeder, former player and model for the male athlete statue at the L.A. Coliseum. He managed to bring the team back from a bad few years.
- The first signs of something special came when the U.S. beat Italy. They lost to eventual bronze medalist Serbia, but they upset favorites Croatia. They actually earned a bye to the semis, where they then beat Serbia! Unfortunately, Hungary defeated them, but for this team, silver was quite the Cinderella story.
- On the other hand, the U.S. women were a heavy favorite. But they were upset by the Netherlands in the final.
- Overall, U.S. team sports were a HUGE success at these Olympics!