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Seventh heaven Hungary wins 'Blood in the Water' rematchLatest: Monday October 09, 2000 05:12 PM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Hungary captured its record seventh water polo gold medal by beating Russia 13-6. The gold was Hungary's first since 1976. The game had none of the horrifying edge of the teams' last Olympic contest in Australia, remembered by some as the "Blood in the Water" game at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. That match, the most infamous in the sport's history, turned into a brawl as Hungary's players did what they could to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of their homeland weeks earlier. Officials stopped the game early with Hungary ahead 4-0. Fans had left their seats and stood at the railings around the pool deck. Russia left with a police escort. There was no unrest at the Sydney International Aquatic Center on Sunday. The only fan movements were the swaying hips of Hungary's red-white-and-green backers dancing with each goal. And there was plenty to dance to. Tibor Benedek and Attila Vari scored twice each in the first eight minutes and Hungary (6-2-0) led 4-1. After Russia's top scorer, Alexander Erychov cut the lead to two goals, Vari put in a short shot from the right side. It was a rout after that, as Benedek's third goal made it 8-2 at the break. Russia replaced goalie Nikolai Maximov in the third quarter, but it didn't help. Benedek beat Maximov's sub, Dmitry Douguine, for his fourth goal. When Gergely Kiss scored with 3:07 left in the third quarter, Hungary had a 10-3 lead on a team that had been undefeated this Olympics, including an exhausting 8-7 semifinal victory over Spain on Saturday. That game needed nearly 16 minutes of extra time to decide, and players from both sides could barely stay afloat at the end. The Hungarians took advantage of the Russian fatigue. They made sharp, fast passes and raced on for long sprints, forcing the Russians to go with them. Russia (6-1-1) couldn't keep up but finished with its first water polo medal since a bronze as the Unified Team in 1992. The bronze-medal game featured water polo's all-time leading Olympic scorer leaving the world's biggest stage as Yugoslavia returned to it. Manuel Estiarte scored twice for Spain, but Yugoslavia (6-1-1) overwhelmed the 1996 gold medalists 8-3. It was the first medal for Yugoslavia since consecutive golds in 1984 and 1988. Vladimir Vujasinovic scored the go-ahead goal and Veljko Uskokovic had the next two as the Yugoslavs went up 5-2 midway through the third quarter. Estiarte ends his career and sixth Olympics with 127 goals. His proudest moment was accepting the gold medal from fellow Barcelona native and International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch in Atlanta four years ago. Estiarte also led Spain (3-4-1) to a silver in Barcelona in 1992. "It was a great finish to my career," Estiarte said. "I retire, but I retire happy." Yugoslavia looked like a gold-medal favorite in winning its group and defeating Australia in the quarterfinals. It led Hungary in the quarterfinals with 10 minutes left, but lost 8-7. In other games, Italy (6-1-1) scored twice in the final two minutes to take fifth with a 10-8 victory over the United States. Fabio Bencivenga scored five goals, including the game-winner with 1:51 to go. The Americans (3-5-0) ended the tournament a spot ahead of their Atlanta finish, but way off the medals stand. Croatia shook off its disappointing Olympics to defeat Australia 10-8 and take seventh. Mile Smodlaka and Alen Boskovic scored three goals each for Croatia (5-2-1). The Australians (1-5-2), with a large home following, got within 9-8 on Craig Miller's second straight goal with 1:20 to go. Greece (1-5-2), automatically in the 2004 Games in Athens as the host nation, defeated Slovakia 12-8 for its first win in Sydney and finished 10th. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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