In just a few days, the U.S. women’s water polo team went from aiming for a historic gold medal to finishing without any medals. It was a sharp decline.
On Saturday, the U.S. lost 11-10 to the Netherlands after Sabrina van der Sloot scored in the last second of the bronze-medal game at the Paris Olympics.
The U.S. had previously been the only team to win a medal in every women’s water polo tournament at the Olympics since the sport was introduced in 2000.
“We’ve talked about just trying to learn from our mistakes and getting better,” U.S. captain Maggie Steffens said. “And I feel today we struggled to continually learn from our mistakes.”
The U.S. team came to the Paris Games hoping for an unprecedented fourth straight gold medal, while downplaying the importance of the streak. Steffens was the only player remaining from the 2012 team and one of six players back from Tokyo.
No team, men’s or women’s, has won four consecutive water polo titles at the Olympics. The tough finish in France highlighted the challenge of maintaining top performance in the sport.
“Everyone on the outside has no idea what this is like,” U.S. coach Adam Krikorian said. “And they have no idea how difficult this is, how hard it is to win. We made it look easy, but it was anything but that for those three Olympic Games.”
The first signs of trouble appeared during a 13-11 loss to Spain on July 29, when the U.S. struggled against Bea Ortiz in the third quarter. However, they bounced back with strong wins over Italy and France.
In 2021, the U.S. also lost in group play but then won four straight games by a combined score of 63-26. This time, Steffens and her teammates couldn’t reach that same level.
The Americans needed 17 saves from Ashleigh Johnson to narrowly defeat Hungary 5-4 in the quarterfinals. They led 5-2 at halftime and 8-6 early in the fourth quarter against Australia in their semifinal on Thursday, but lost 14-13 in a penalty shootout.
The U.S. women’s water polo team faced similar issues against the Netherlands, leading 7-3 at halftime but getting outscored 5-1 in the fourth quarter.
“I just think that we lost focus in some key moments,” Johnson said, “and that can take the whole game away. That can give the other team a lot of momentum. And it did. … We relaxed a little bit, which is unfortunate.”
Krikorian’s future as the U.S. coach is one of the big questions after the Paris Games. Jamie Davis will become CEO of USA Water Polo on October 1, so any decision about the coaching role might not come for a few months.
Krikorian nearly left his job after the U.S. won gold in Tokyo, and he has considered whether it might be time for a change after the fourth-place finish in Paris.
“There’s moments in which I feel like new leadership may be good,” he said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, so your message sometimes gets a little stale in moments.”
It’s also uncertain what Steffens, Johnson, and the other U.S. veterans will choose to do next. The 2028 Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, which is a central hub for American water polo and would give the U.S. team an automatic spot, offering more flexibility for training.
However, playing for the national team is still a big challenge, and some of the top American players might decide this is a good time to move on from the sport.
“Right now, we need to be present. We need to be with our teammates,” said Steffens, who is the highest scoring woman in Olympic history with 64 goals. “We need to feel the feels, and moving forward, we’ll see.”
