Olympics Briefs | Water polo: U.S. men lose gold-medal match 14-10 to Hungary

BEIJING — When their surprising Olympic run finally ended Sunday, the U.S. men's water polo players wore mostly frowns on their weary faces and silver medals around their necks.

Right after their 14-10 loss to Hungary in the final, they presented a picture of conflicting emotions — equal parts sadness and satisfaction. The coach who had put this fractured American program back together, Terry Schroeder, gathered his charges in one last huddle to make sure their accomplishment had not been lost in defeat.

"It's going to hurt tonight and hurt tomorrow, but as the months go on, they're going to realize what a huge deal this is," Schroeder said. "They've got a lot to be proud of."

The United States won both water polo silver medals here. The women's team, ranked No. 1 entering the tournament, ended up disappointed. The men's team, ranked No. 9 at the same juncture, will remember this two-week stretch as the period during which they re-emerged.

"It will be a tournament that people remember for the ages," goalie Merrill Moses said. "USA water polo hasn't been on the podium in 20 years. We wanted the gold, but I'm happy I have a medal around my neck."

The U.S. team took some solace in losing to Hungary, where they consider water polo a national sport. The U.S. tied the score at 9 shortly into the third quarter, though Hungary dominated the rest of the way.

Cuba ends with eight boxing medals

For the storied Cuban boxing program, the Summer Olympics evolved into a glass half-full, glass half-empty conundrum.

The case for half-full: Cuba finished with eight medals, most in the boxing competition, with four silver medals and four bronze. The performance precisely fulfilled the pre-games assessment of Cuba coach Pedro Roque, who hesitated to predict gold for any of his fighters, but said, "I think we can try to win several silver and bronze medals."

And the case for half-empty?

Roque's team returns home with no gold medals. Not since 1968, when they made their summer Games boxing debut in Mexico City, have the Cubans not produced at least one champion from any Olympics in which they've participated. (Cuba boycotted the games in 1984 and '88.)

Notes

• Through 16 days, NBC Universal's Beijing Olympic coverage had reached 211 million viewers and has been viewed by more Americans than any event in U.S. television history, according to data provided by Nielsen Media Research. The Beijing Games have surpassed the 1996 Atlanta Games, which were viewed by 209 million Americans. The Beijing Olympic 16-day average prime-time viewership is 27.7 million, 11 percent ahead of Athens in 2004 (24.9 million).

• France won the last gold medal of the Beijing Games, beating Iceland 28-23 in men's team handball to deny the small Nordic country its first gold in an Olympic event.