13-11. Serbia, Olympic champion for the third time in a row

Maybe they suffered like never before in the first period, but then they ended up winning as usual. Serbia was crowned the Olympic champion of men’s water polo this Sunday after losing 13-11 to Croatia to the great final of the Paris Games. It was in a fight between two of the great candidates for the title, but who was fourth in the first stage to come out of the qualifying round as the powers that be.

Especially, a Serbia that continues to dominate the Olympic Games with an iron fist. The Olympic champion of Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 is also the champion of Paris 2024 to assert their dominance in this competition. It was his third Olympic gold, the same as Italy and with only nine from Hungary and the four from Olympic origin United Kingdom behind.

Also, this one has arrived when perhaps it is least expected. Since Serbia was not on the podium in any of the three World Cups held during the cycle (fifth in 2022, fourth in 2023 and sixth in 2024) and further away from it in the Europeans (ninth in 2022 and seventh in 2024). But, in the long-awaited championship, Uros Stevanovic’s men came out strong in the moment of truth to defeat Croatia, who seemed to start as a sensational favorite during the cycle.

Milos Cuk with three objectives and Nikola Dedovic and Nikola Jaksic With two, they led the Serbian team in attack, which hardly noticed the only goal scored by its star Dusan Mandic. Croatia’s three goals were invalid for Croatia to try to claim the gold. Jerko Marinic Kragic. The ten saves from Radoslav Filipovic They also made the difference for a Serbia successful in superiority (7/9, with 1/1 on penalties) to punish its rival (5/12 Croatian).

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He dominated Serbia from an overwhelming 5-2 run in the first quarter. Loren Fatovic put Croatia in the lead, but Serbia, who had early problems in attack, finally found Nemanja Ubovic on an inside ball as an extra man to tie the game. Milos Cuk carried the team on his back with two goals, one of which was a penalty, which was answered in between by Marinic Kragic. However, two shots by Jaksic as an extra man late in the opening set put Serbia at +3.

Croatia tried to get into the game in the second quarter with a goal from Loncar. Nemanja Vico and Strahinja Rasovic kept it out along with good Serbian defence. To try to change something, Croatia brought in Toni Popadic in place of Marko Bijac. Loren Fatovic and Jerko Marinic Kragic narrowed the gap to 7-5, though Dedovic made it 8-5 at halftime.

Croatia had attacking options to get into the game in the third quarter, but they couldn’t find fluidity. Viktor Rasovic made him pay, although Marinic Kragic tried to keep his team afloat. Radomir Drasovic, however, put up 10-6 which could have been higher if not for the post taking a good option from Mandic. Only late in the quarter did Croatia respond with goals from Jokovic and Kharkov, but Mandic hit back between them with a direct free kick to The game would come with the Serbian 11-8 in the final quarter.

There were eight minutes left for Croatia to try to keep believing. An early goal by Josip Vrlic on the buoy gave him permission to do so. In addition, Serbia was bogged down in the attack against an old Bijac. However, the Croatians could not get past their rival’s defensive wall and saw how a goal from a direct foul. Dedovic made it 12-9 with just over three minutes remaining. Kharkov tried to reduce the gap with just over a minute remaining, but Milos Cuk scored and Rino Buric could only score the goal. 13-11 final.

In this way, after a complicated cycle, Uros Stevanovic’s men appeared in a big way, at the best moment. Serbia remains the queen of men’s water polo at the Olympic Games after a third gold in a row that keeps him as the benchmark.

Match sheet

13-Serbia: Radoslav Filipovic (p), Dusan Mandic (1), Strahinja Rasovic (1), Sava Randelovic, Milos Cuk (3), Nikola Dedovic (2), Radomir Drasovic (1), Nikola Jaksic (2), Nemanja Vico (1) , Nemanja Ubovic (1), Petar Jaksic, Viktor Rasovic (1) and Vladimir Misovic (ps)
11-Croatia: Marko Bijac (p), Rino Buric (1), Loren Fatovic (2), Luka Loncar (1), Maro Jokovic (1), Luka Bukic, Ante Vukicevic, Marko Zuvela, Jerko Marinic Kragic (3), Josip Vrlic (1 ), Matias Biljaka, Konstantin Kharkov (2) and Toni Popadic (ps)
Components: 5-2, 3-3, 3-3 and 2-3
Referees: Boris Margeta (Slovenia) and Michiel Zwart (Netherlands). 7/9 in superiority for Serbia (1/1 in penalties) and 5/12 for Croatia). Randelovic was eliminated by Serbia and Biljaka and Vukicevic by Croatia
Incidents: Final of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games