Irvine,
CA – January 3, 2025 – USA Water Polo CEO Jamie Davis has announced contract
extensions for head coaches Dejan Udovicic and Adam Krikorian to bring an unprecedented
level of stability to USA Water Polo men's & women's national teams. The
new agreements secure leadership through the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Udovicic will embark on his fourth straight quadrennium after leading the Team
USA men to a bronze medal in Paris. For Krikorian, the march to LA will be his
fifth consecutive Olympic cycle after guiding the US women to six world
championship titles, three Olympic gold medals, and a fourth-place finish in
Paris last year.
"USA
Water Polo has two of the best international coaches in the world and I am
excited to announce that Adam Krikorian will lead our women's senior national
team and Dejan Udovicic our men's senior national team on our paths for gold
medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games," said Davis. "Adam's
accomplishments are unparalleled, and under Dejan's leadership in Paris last
summer our men won the program's first Olympic medal since 2008. We have big
goals on the journey to LA28 and I'm confident that Adam and Dejan will
position us well for victory."
Krikorian,
considered to be the greatest women's water polo coach of all-time, turned the
US women's team into the definition of excellence after taking over the program
in 2009. Since then, the US women have claimed three Olympic gold medals (in
2012 London, 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo), six World Aquatics Championships titles (in
2009, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024), four World Cups (in 2010, 2014, 2018,
2023), four Pan American Games titles (in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) and 11 World
League Super Final crowns (2009-2012, 2014-2019, 2021). From 2014 through 2022
the US women were simply dominant, winning every major championship more than
once and setting a modern record for winning 69 women's matches in a row.
Krikorian has been honored as the 2012 USOPC Olympic Coach of the Year, a 2013
USOPC Jack Kelly Fair Play Award recipient, a member of the Pac-12 All-Century
Team for coaching and the UCLA Hall of Fame.
"I
am thrilled to continue to be a part of a program that has given so much to me
personally and that has had such an enormous positive influence on the sport
throughout our country and the world," Krikorian said. "I look
forward to working with the team of athletes and staff through the detailed
process of development and forging the relationships along the way that makes
the journey so special."
"We
understand that hosting the Olympic Games in LA is a unique opportunity to
inspire people all over the country and for our program to display the values
that have made our team so special and transcend the sport," Krikorian
added.
For the
US men, an Olympic bronze medal in Paris marked the latest step in a steady
rise since Udovicic took charge in 2013. In Rio 2016, the men placed 10th. In
Tokyo 2020, they rose to 6th, and in Paris 2024—after claiming their first
medal in the World Cup since 1997 (a bronze) – they ended a 16-year Olympic
medal drought to land on the podium. Now, their sights are set on the ultimate
prize in Los Angeles. In addition, Udovicic led the team to three Pan American
Games titles (in 2015, 2019, 2023) and three World Aquatics World League silver
medals (in 2016, 2021, 2022). During his tenure, the men's development pipeline
has also recorded historic finishes including the cadet national team's gold at
the Darko Cukic Memorial Tourney in 2017 and the junior national team's first
medal for a US men's program at any level in World Championship play: a 2023
bronze. On top of that, Udovicic has played a critical role in helping a record
number of US national team athletes compete for professional club teams in Europe.
"I'm
so proud of what our team accomplished over the last four years and thrilled to
continue as head coach of the USA men's national team," Udovicic said.
"I want to thank everyone in USA Water Polo for their support. I'm excited
to build on our results from Paris with Los Angeles up next. We have an
excellent core group of athletes that are entering their prime [and] putting us
in a position to achieve what has been my goal since the day I joined USA Water
Polo: reaching the top of the podium and winning a gold medal. We know this
won't be easy but I believe in our team and our staff and am confident the best
is yet to come."
Both
national teams return to action this month. The US men are off to Bucharest,
Romania, to play World Cup Division 1 from January 7-12. The US women also
compete in World Cup Division 1, from January 14-19 in Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Rosters for those events will be announced prior to the start of play.
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