Olympic Water Polo: Adam Krikorian Leads Team USA To Third Straight Olympic Gold Medal

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Andre Khatchaturian Leave a comment

Adam Krikorian’s dominance as the head coach of Team USA women’s water polo continues.

The Armenian-American led the Americans to their third straight Olympic gold medal after defeating Spain, 14-5, in the gold medal match on Saturday. Since taking over as head coach in 2009, Krikorian has led Team USA to 20 gold medals in 23 international competitions.

For the second consecutive Olympics, Krikorian coached with a heavy heart as his father passed earlier in 2021. During the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Krikorian was grieving his brother’s death.

The United States only had one hiccup in the tournament, a 10-9 loss to Hungary in the group stage. They bounced back after the loss with an 18-5 win over the Russian Olympic Committee before dominating Canada, 16-5, in the quarterfinals.

Then, in the semifinals, the Americans topped the Russians again, 15-11, before finishing the three-peat against Spain.