{"id":595209,"date":"2024-08-11T09:42:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T16:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=595209"},"modified":"2024-08-11T09:42:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T16:42:53","slug":"olympic-mens-water-polo-dominant-first-quarter-sets-tone-for-serbia-gold-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympic-mens-water-polo-dominant-first-quarter-sets-tone-for-serbia-gold-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Men\u2019s Water Polo: Dominant First Quarter Sets Tone for Serbia Gold Medal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic Men\u2019s Water Polo: Dominant First Quarter Sets Tone for Serbia Gold Medal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Milos Cuk<\/strong> and Nikola Jaksic<\/strong> scored twice each in the first quarter as Serbia built a three-goal lead and controlled the Olympic final throughout on the way to a 13-11 win over Croatia for its third straight gold medal.<\/p>\n

Serbia is atop the Olympic podium for the third straight time. It\u2019s the second time that it\u2019s come at the expense of Croatia, beating them in the 2016 Rio final when Croatia was the reigning gold medalist. Serbia has, in its various incarnations, medaled at seven straight games, including silver for Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 and bronze for Yugoslavia in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s incredible,” Dusan Mandic said. “This is the power of unity. This is the team spirit. This is defense, defense, defense until the end, sacrificing for each other. It’s incredible how this game went, how we played. This is my third final. I cannot believe that I actually won this one also.”<\/p>\n