Blunder by coach nearly sinks U.S. in women’s water polo at London Olympics

LONDON — Through the frantic thrashing in the pool and the supercharged racket at the Water Polo Arena, Adam Krikorian thought he saw his goalie grab the ball. He was sure of it. So the U.S. coach kept his eye on play while pivoting toward officials, signaling for a timeout.

His goalie, however, did not have the ball. It was loose in the desperate muddle of Australia scraping to sustain gold-medal hopes, down a goal in a women’s semifinal game. And there are five reasons for officials to award a penalty shot in water polo, and calling a timeout without possession is one of them.

After several minutes of discussion, they did just that. Australia converted the shot to tie the score with one second left. U.S. triumph became melodrama. And the coach processed the idea that he had cost his team a shot at gold with, quite possibly, one of the most enduring blunders in Olympic history.

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“Oh, I had the ‘Oh, [shoot]’ moments,” Krikorian said. “I had about two minutes of ‘Oh, [shoot]’ moments. I’m very thankful the break after regulation is five minutes, because I don’t think I’d have been able to regroup in two minutes.”

When the Americans’ 11-9 victory over Australia in overtime arrived and the pool filled with hugs and splashes, the coaching gaffe shrank to a moment that will live in levity and not infamy. The U.S. plays Spain for the gold medal Thursday (Spain defeated Hungary, 10-9) and received an unexpected booster shot of resiliency before it does.

Krikorian’s first meeting with the team after the timeout fiasco did not go well. His mind was caked in terror. He felt horrible. A couple of minutes later, he decided to have another meeting. He started with two key words: My bad.

He added this: One stupid call by the coach isn’t going to unspool 31/2 years of work. His team, though, beat him there.

“You can’t even blink,” center forward Kami Craig said. “You have to move on to the next thing. If they tie up the game, they tie up the game, and we’re moving on. It’s staying in the moment.”

A Maggie Steffensgoal in extra time — one of her four — dissolved the apprehension. Craig followed with another. A night earlier, the team stayed up too late in the athletes village, rapt at the U.S. women’s soccer team battling Canada in another extra-time semifinal tilt, stifling the urge to scream and keeping high-fives as quiet as possible.

That example and the standard chaos of water polo and its fourth-quarter blood-pressure spikes basically muted any panic.

“We make mistakes,” U.S. captain Brenda Villa said. “There’s never a perfect game. We haven’t played a perfect tournament. But you do whatever it takes to win. So that’s what we did.”

So they get a chance Thursday to gild a tournament their coach nearly nuked with one epic bumble. Krikorian smiled through obvious exhaustion and relief afterward. Never had he been so pleased to see a save.

“It was a big blunder on my part,” Krikorian said. “But you know what, this is a team game. The coach makes mistakes as well. When the coach makes mistakes, you need your team to pick you up. And the team picked me up today.”

bchamilton@tribune.com

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