Cal Ties Olympic Medal Record

PARIS – On the final day of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the California men's water polo trio of Adrian Weinberg, Luca Cupido and Johnny Hooper secured the bronze medal as USA defeated Hungary 11-8 in a penalty shootout. The final podium finish brought the Golden Bears to a record-tying total of 23 medals.

Weinberg earned player of the game honors for the fourth time in USA's last five outings in Paris, racking up an Olympic-best 16 saves and keeping Hungary out of the net on all four of its penalty attempts. That included three straight misses during the shootout. Weinberg finished his Olympic debut averaging 11.8 saves per game, totaling 94 saves and scoring one goal while playing nearly every minute at goalkeeper.

Cupido – who became the second Bear men's water polo player since 1952 to appear in three Olympics – scored a goal for the fourth consecutive game and fifth time overall. Hooper returned to the lineup and notched his sixth goal of the tournament, putting USA ahead 1-0 on a power play in the opening minutes.

It was the second time in the knockout stage that USA staged a late comeback to pull off a thrilling win, as the Americans erased an 8-6 deficit in the final three minutes of regulation. With his penalty shut out of Hungary, Weinberg conceded just four of the 11 penalties he faced over the final three games.

Nikolaos Papanikolaou was the only other Bear in action on Sunday, playing just under five minutes in Greece's 15-13 win over Spain in the men's water polo fifth-place game. Papanikolaou totaled three goals during his debut Olympic Games.