By Ian Ransom
PARIS (Reuters) – Sabrina van der Sloot goaled with less than a second on the clock as the Netherlands stunned the United States 11-10 for bronze in the women’s water polo on Saturday and denied the Americans a medal for the first time at the Olympics.
Van der Sloot’s winner capped an incredible fightback by the Dutch who trailed 9-6 in the final quarter but thumped in five goals to topple the three-times champions at La Defense Arena.
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,” said U.S. attacker Maddie Musselman.
“It just shows the importance of staying in the moment and we weren’t able to capitalise on that today.”
The U.S. had finished on the medal podium at every Olympics since the Sydney 2000 debut of the women’s event.
U.S. coach Adam Krikorian said he felt “sadness” for his team but was incredibly proud of them.
“They worked their butts off today, they did everything they could,” he said.
“Holland obviously was the better team today … It’s going to hurt for a while.”
With six goals from seven shots and two in the last quarter, 33-year-old Van der Sloot carried Netherlands to victory on her powerful shoulders.
With scores 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.
The U.S.’s most vocal backer and sponsor Flavor Flav, the rapper and founding member of Public Enemy, consoled the team on social media.
“I love my girls,,, and imma so proud of them. We introduced Water Polo to a new audience and we just getting started,,, We headed to LA28,” he posted on X.
Australia face Spain in the gold medal match later on Saturday.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Alison Williams)
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