"The men's water polo team of Hungary has won Olympic gold on Sunday, beating the national team of the USA 14-10, making Olympic history, as no other nation has came out victorious in three consecutive Olympic finals.The two teams were neck and neck until 9-9, when Hungary scored once, twice and then for the third, fourth and fifth time, while the players of the USA tried in vain to shoot the ball behind goalie Zoltán Szécsi, who guarded the net in a bombastic shape.
Two minutes before the final whistle, Hungary led 14-9.
In 2004, Hungary beat Serbia and Montenegro in Athens and crushed Russia in Sidney in 2000.
Coach Dénes Kemény, who is never seen strolling the side of the pool without his half-litre mineral water bottle in hand, also made history, winning gold in three consecutive Olympics.
Kemény became the most successful Olympic coach of all time. While Croat Ratko Rudic has also won three consecutive gold medals, but he did it with two different teams, with Yugoslavia in 1984 in Los Angeles, in 1988 in Seoul and with Italy in Barcelona in 1992.
Six members of the team, Tibor Benedek, Péter Biros, Tamás Kásás, Gergely Kiss, Zoltán Szécsi and Tamás Molnár, now have three Olympic golds, which no other Hungarians, but Dezsõ Gyarmati and György Kárpáti have (Tokyo 1964, Melbourne 1956, Helsinki 1952).
The Hungarian team was (in order of cap number):
Zoltán Szécsi (goalkeeper)
Tamás Varga
Norbert Madaras
Dénes Varga
Tamás Kásás
Norbert Hosnyánszky
Gergely Kiss
Tibor Benedek
Dániel Varga
Péter Biros
Gábor Kis
Tamás Molnár
István Gergely (goalkeeper)
István Gergely boasts the third-best shots/saves ratio (63.2%), while Szécsi's record shows 50.6%."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
28.08.2008