Disappointment Reigns for U.S.

De Bruijn Leads Dutch Past Americans for Women's Water Polo Gold: Netherlands 9, United States 8

BEIJING, Aug. 21 -- The end felt so much like disaster that afterward, when Natalie Golda looked down at the award hanging around her neck, she had to remind herself that winning an Olympic medal is supposed to be a good thing.

"I have a silver medal," she said. "That's a victory in itself."

And yet as Golda, a defender on the U.S. women's water polo team, considered the medal in the concourse beneath the Yingdong Natatorium, her lip quivered, she dabbed her eyes, her hand covered her mouth and she began to cry.

On this day, after a 9-8 gold medal game loss to the Netherlands, silver was just not good enough.

This was supposed to be the Americans' year, their time. The entire relevant Olympic history of U.S. women's water polo before this summer consisted of about 3.3 seconds. That was all the time it took for them to lose in medal games during the two previous Olympics. Deciding which was worse was a challenge: the goal in the 2000 gold medal game with Australia that came with 1.3 seconds left or the one in the semifinal four years later, when Italy fired in a shot with two seconds left?

Yet somehow the Americans could forget those two defeats. The first came at a time when they were just trying to establish themselves, getting to the gold medal game was a surprise, and in 2004 they took comfort in the fact they fought back from the loss to Italy to win a bronze.

This year, they rolled through like a presumed champion, dominating opponents until they got to Thursday's final against the Netherlands, a team with a minuscule international profile and was about the furthest thing from a contender that the United States could draw. And yet, given a gift of a gold medal game, the Americans looked nothing like champions. The Netherlands scored on its first four possessions, and from there, the United States was left trying to catch up.

Again and again, the Dutch stormed down the pool, whipping passes around the perimeter, looking for the perfect shot. And again and again, they gave the ball to Danielle de Bruijn, who had told her teammates she was retiring at the end of the Olympics. And again and again, de Bruijn flung shots at the American goal with remarkable success, seven of her eight shots finding their way into the net. It was almost as if she beat the United States all by herself.

"It's up there with one of the great performances, especially because she did it at the Olympics," U.S. Coach Guy Baker said.

But of all the nights for this greatest of performances to occur, it had to be in the game that mattered most to the Americans, the one they believed belonged to them. And that is what seemed to gnaw at them the most. It was such an important game that their top scorer Lauren Wenger played despite a hand injury suffered in the semifinals. The United States announced before the game that the hand had been X-rayed and showed no broken bones. Only when the game was over did Wenger admit that indeed she had broken the hand.

"It was an Olympic gold game," she said. "I was definitely going to play."

She was clearly not the same player, though, appearing for just 6 minutes 15 seconds and taking one shot, which she missed. It was hard to tell how much of an impact her injury had on the U.S. team. But there was no de Bruijn for the Americans. Only one player, Jessica Steffens, scored more than one goal. Mostly, the United States looked like a team knocked backward and could never quite catch up.

When it was over, when the Americans' chance to throw in a last-second shot went awry, they swam slowly across the pool and crawled out to watch the wild Dutch celebration. Coach Robin van Galen, also in his final Olympic game, was tossed into the pool by his assistant coaches and later sat on the pool's edge, spitting water and laughing.

Later, as the medals were being readied, the elated players from the Netherlands sang and danced in a hallway beneath the stands. They jumped in the air, fingers almost brushing the ceiling. Several of the women from the bronze medal-winning team, Australia, joined in and there was quite a party rolling in the hall as the Australian women in green danced together with the Dutch women in orange. Their howls echoed off the walls.

The Americans did not look. They stood, lined up at the door, prepared to receive their unwanted silver medals with dead eyes and sullen gazes. Some cried. They looked like this was the last place they wanted to be.

"It's bittersweet knowing that for some of the people on this team their careers are over," Golda said through her tears.

Over, without the gold medal they thought would finally be theirs.