Hungarian goalkeeper Alda Magyari received a hand injury earlier in the week, recovered, helped her team to the bronze-medal final, made 10 saves and, in her first Olympics, scored her first goal with four seconds of that experience remaining.

In doing so it broke a three-Olympic hoodoo where Hungary could not win the bronze-medal match. That joy will flood through the nation like the Danube as being the first Olympic medal for the Hungarian women. Besides third and three fourths, Hungary finished fifth in its first appearance at Athens 2014.

The two teams met early in the group stage, finishing at 10-10.

In an exciting and unusual finale, Hungary led by three twice, then trailed 8-7, retook the lead at 3:36 in the fourth and withstood many ROC attacks, including a seven-player assault. That final ROC shot was intercepted and Magyari launched the ball skyward, arcing into the empty ROC goal for 11-9, confirming that the medal was heading to Hungary.

It was a rematch of the Rio 2016 bronze-medal encounter when Russia took the match.

Hungary had come into the Olympic tournament via the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Trieste, Italy. Hungary beat Netherlands 13-11 in the final, but the actual qualification came by defeating Italy 13-10 in the semifinals for the all-important airline ticket. To be a late qualifier and go home with a medal was exceptional.

ROC qualified via the 2020 European Championships.

The first quarter was even, both teams having the lead. Ekaterina Prokofyeva had a shot before the buzzer and VAR was required to check if it had crossed the line. Not quite, the referee indicated.

Hungary took the initiative through Krisztina Garda and Vanda Valyi and went to 4-2 before ROC replied via Anastasia Simanovich for 4-3. Hungarian skipper Rita Keszthelyi and Valyi, on extra-man attack, gave Hungary a solid 6-3 lead. Simanovich and Gabriella Szucs traded man-up goals and Nadezhda Glyzina nailed one from the deep right to close the half’s scoring at 7-5. Hungary was in the box seat, or so we thought.

ROC dominated the third period with three unanswered goals for an 8-7 advantage. Two of the goals came from Prokofyeva with the second bringing up her 15th goal at Tokyo 2020.

Valyi opened the final quarter’s scoring and the match was level again. It was her third goal in her best match, lifting her tally to seven. Greta Gurisatti netted her 11th goal of the tournament to give Hungary the boost only for ROC centre forward Anna Timofeeva to grab, turn and push the ball into goal on extra from the right-post position for 9-9 at 4:59. The foul count was 13-11 at this stage with each team losing a player on three fouls — Natasa Rybanska (HUN) and Veronika Vakhitova (ROC).

Hungary took a timeout and the ploy worked with Anna Illes converting the extra-man attack for 10-9 at 3:36. ROC could not penetrate the defence and Hungary went to a timeout at 0:51 for no result. On the final ROC attack, goalkeeper Anna Karnaukh ploughed upfield, looked to shoot, passed off for Glyzina to shoot and the rest was history with Magyari relishing the opportunity for Olympic glory.

Russia finished third, fifth, seventh, sixth and third in its previous five appearances.

Russia has only one gold medal in its collection — 2008 World League, but four silvers and 10 bronzes at other FINA world competitions.

Match 31, 17:20, HUNGARY 11 RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE 9
Classification 3-4
Quarters: 2-2, 5-3, 0-3, 4-1.
Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Frank Ohme (GER).
Shots: HUN: 11/25. ROC: 9/31.
Extra Man: HUN: 6/11. ROC: 4/11.
Pens: ROC: 1/1.

MATCH RESULTS

FLASH QUOTES

Attila Biro (HUN) — Head Coach
“As we had played with them in the prelims, we didn’t have to devote too much time for the tactical part, much more to bring many players back from the disappointment they had gone through after the semifinal loss (to Spain). We used all possible support, including our mental trainers who were online with the girls during the last night via the web. Also, coming to the match I held a speech to fire them up. I’d rather not recall the details as many parts are not quotable in the media, but it definitely helped the girls to jump to the pool with the utmost determination. They needed that as it’s always a nerve-wracking experience to play with the Russians. They are great, they are confident, sometimes over-confident and in the first half we could just play well enough to narrow the smiles on their faces a bit. Still, they are strong, they were coming back in the third while we were a bit halted, not just by them, but our mentality didn’t change even after they took over the lead. It was a team effort, a huge team effort to turn it around and get this historical bronze in the end. The conclusion is the same, though, as it has always been, which is also an advice for everyone: if you wish to live a calm and long life, don’t go a coaching job in this sport, but if you take that risk, at least don’t be part of women’s bronze-medal games at the Olympics.”

Alda Magyari (HUN) — Goalkeeper and Goal Scorer
“It was such an incredible game and I’m over the moon to win it. We were down after the semifinal loss as we all felt that it was a game we could have won, but we just defeated ourselves. A huge thanks for our mental trainers’ team, they did a great job between these two matches and we could lift ourselves to the level we could play on and we just showed that it’s a really high level, for sure. Regarding my goal, well, it was great to stop the last Russian attempt, the ball fell in front of me, I held it for a while, then I recognised, that hey, they were 7 on 6 so their net is empty… So I went for the shot, but as soon as I let the ball fly, I heard the screams, ‘Don’t, don’t shoot!” and I was like, ‘Gosh, shouldn’t I have taken it?’ But in the very next moment everyone jumped to my neck cheering, so I really didn’t know what happened, only saw that it went in once I could surface…”

Rita Keszthelyi (HUN) — Captain
“It was a huge win and I cannot be any prouder of this team. Many of us were waiting this moment since ages and we were able to deliver this time, despite the disappointment after the semis. This game was as tough as any you play with the Russians but today we had the mentality and the necessary physical power to clinch it at the end, even if they had a very good third period while we slowed down a little bit. In the last period it was our defence which brought us back to the game. All the players gave everything, I mean, really everything. Everyone died for making a block or to mark its attacker and we just had blocks, steals and saves in the most crucial moments. This is the only way you can win an Olympic medal. And let me tell you, that for me, this is very special… My mother was among the first ones who played women’s water polo in Hungary. My father was a national team player but he couldn’t make the Olympic podium in 1988, so I won this medal for him in the first place (sobbing). I think now the entire country can be really proud of this team…”

Rebecca Parkes (HUN) — Centre Forward
“We had to fight our hearts and souls out. We knew the bronze game was probably going to be harder than the gold because there's only one medal to win, so you're out to fight as much as you can. We did it and we did it well. It was intense. We had a really good start and then we were up by two or three goals, which I think is actually an advantage for Russia because it’s their strength to come back at this kind of time. But we held it and it was great.”

Aleksandr Gaidukov (ROC) — Head Coach
"We came out to battle. The girls gave all that they could. They put in extraordinary efforts to play this match. Unfortunately, they were not able to capitalise on the scoring opportunities. This is probably the curse of our water polo. I cannot blame the girls that somewhere someone did not do enough. They were great. They deserve to get honour and praise. Such is sport. Such is life and you can't do anything about it." On losing a tight semifinal against USA on Thursday: "It is more psychologically that it was hard to come back from that. To lose a good chance in the last minutes, of course, that is psychologically difficult. But they were great. They regrouped. They went in to fight and in the match against the Hungarians proved that they are a fighting machine."

Ekaterina Prokofyeva (ROC) — Captain
"I feel very bad. To finish in fourth place is not good, but I am proud of my team. We worked hard, but we were not able to turn it to our advantage.They were luckier. They capitalised on their scoring opportunities and we didn't. It's very simple. I don't think that I did not have enough strength for this match or enough emotions. I cannot speak for everybody, but I can say for myself that I was fighting to the end and the team did exactly the same."