U.S. Women's Water Polo Completes a Three-Peat, Takes Home Gold in Tokyo

The U.S. women's water polo team does it again. 

The squad won its third consecutive gold medal in the Summer Games with a commanding 14–5 victory over Spain on Saturday. The players asked the U.S. coach to remove his cell phone from his pocket at the end of the match before throwing him into the pool as they celebrated. 

Maddie Musselman, who was a part of the Rio 2016 gold medalist team, scored three goals while goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson, also a Rio 2016 gold medalist, tallied 11 saves for the win. 

This is not the first time the U.S. women's water polo team has beaten Spain for a gold medal. It did so nine years ago at London 2012. 

Heading into the matchup, Team USA was the only group to win two Olympic gold medals and medal at every Games since women’s water polo was introduced in 2000. The U.S. won silver in 2008 and 2000 while it brought home bronze in 2004. Now, it has another gold medal to add to its unprecedented journey.  

Albeit dominant, the U.S. team did not come into Tokyo 2020 unscathed. It lost to Hungary in group play earlier in the tournament, marking its first Olympic loss since Beijing 2008. 

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