Paris Olympics: what to know and who to watch during the water polo competition

An itinerary to follow for the water polo competition at the Paris Games:

—Maggie Steffens, United States: The decorated forward was beaten at the Tokyo Olympics but still helped the U.S. to unprecedented success. third consecutive gold medal. She is the highest-scoring woman in Olympic history with 56 goals.

—Alvaro Granados, Spain: Granados, 25, led Spain to a dramatic 11-10 victory over Croatia in January in the country’s first European championship. He scored a team-high 18 goals as Spain finished fourth at the Tokyo Games.

—Simone van de Kraats, Netherlands: One of the Dutch team’s leading scorers, 23-year-old van de Kraats scored a tournament-high 28 goals in her first Olympics in Tokyo. She led the Netherlands to the world championships last year, winning their biggest title since winning gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

—Marko Bijac, Croatia: The goalkeeper remains one of the best in the world. He won silver at the 2016 Olympics and was named the best goalkeeper at this year’s European championships.

—Francesco di Fulvio, Italy: Di Fulvio, 30, was the MVP of this year’s world championship. He scored 17 goals for Italy in Tokyo.

—Bea Ortiz, Spain: The talented Ortiz helped Spain finish second at the Tokyo Games. She scored four goals as Spain defeated the US 17-15 in last year’s World Cup qualifiers in the Netherlands, handing the US team one of its four defeats in 2023.

– Steffens and the USA go to the story. No team – male or female – has won four consecutive water polo titles at the Olympics. The Americans are weak in the center this time, but that may not matter with their range of forwards and Ashleigh Johnson at goalkeeper.

– Hungary is the winningest program in men’s water polo, with nine gold medals, but the bronze in Tokyo was the first medal since the run of three consecutive Olympic titles, from 2000 to 2008. Gergo Zalanki and company hope to lead the country back to final in Paris.

—Croatia are the current men’s world champions after a dramatic 15-13 victory over Italy in February. He is seeking his second gold medal at the Olympics, after also winning in London.

The preliminary phase begins on July 27th, at the Aquatic Center, and women’s and men’s days alternate during the Summer Games. The women’s final will be on August 10th, at Paris La Défense Arena, and the men’s championship will be held in the same place the next day.

Women: United States.

Men: Serbia.

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AP Summer Olympics: