MEDIA CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Women’s water polo, medallists

Adam Krikorian (USA) — Head Coach

On whether he could prepare his team to the atmosphere

(Laughing) “Sorry for laughing but the answer is no, definitely not. You can’t prepare a team for that. We never played in such circumstances, anything like that. In the first quarter it was like ‘this is incredible, I can’t hear myself thinking, my players can’t hear me… I was amazing, as Maggie said, the Mecca of water polo, a world champion place. I was thinking, with all honesty, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose, it is an honour to be part of this. This result is a huge shot for Attila’s (Biro) team and I’m jealous to see this kind of support his team enjoys, to see how the Hungarians love water polo.”

Maggie Steffens (USA) — Captain

On whether the USA team is really unbeatable

“First of all, we need to make clear that this is a new team, much different than any of the previous ones. We are enjoying a new journey now and for this stage, first of all I have to say it was an honour to play this championship in Hungary in an environment like this. I mean, this is the Mecca of water polo and for a new team like ours, this is going to be something we never forget. We were growing as a team over the last two weeks, and it feels great that we could showcase ourselves on this stage.”

Attila Biro (HUN) — Head Coach

On getting the first World Championship medal since 2013

“First of all, I have to thanksthis to my girls, they played a fantastic match tonight, were next to their maximum. We would have needed a bit more luck a couple of smarter plays in front, but all in all I’m content with this result. It was a huge celebration for international women’s water polo, though I must admit that every now and then I’d be keen to change with Adam (Krikorian). They would play in front of 6000 people for a couple of times while we win some gold medals.”

Rita Keszthelyi-Nagy (HUN) — Captain

On whether it’s a silver won, or a gold lost

“I think we did a great job today. Our goal was to be as close to the US team as we could and apart from the smaller lapse in the third, we managed to play a tight game. There is nothing we should be ashamed of, we really did our best, though I still have the feeling that it was a chance we missed. We’ll have to continue like this and be in the finals in the next two years as well.”

Evangelos Doudesis (NED) — Head Coach

On what this bronze medal means for the Netherlands

“For us, it was a chance to prove ourselves that we could compete on the highest level, to show that we are back. I expect that this is only the first step which we have taken towards Paris.”

Sabrina van der Sloot (NED) — Captain

On how they bounced back from three goals down

“Eva (coach Evangelos Doudesis) took a timeout and he just made us remember that we had a plan, and we should play according to that. This somehow relieved us from the pressure; we returned to our game and this we managed to beat them (Italy).”