Memorable curtain call for de Bruijn as Dutch take gold

BEIJING - They walked out together, then stood side by side holding hands and grinning like never before. When the Dutch women's water polo team jumped onto the medal stand to collect the gold medals, the players took several collective bows.

In truth, it was Danielle de Bruijn's show. And her curtain call.

De Bruijn scored seven goals in her final Olympic game, including the winner with 26 seconds remaining, and the Netherlands shocked the United States, 9-8, in the gold medal match last night.

"I don't think I've ever quite seen that," US coach Guy Baker said. "What a great performance . . . It is up there with some of the great performances, especially because she did it at the Olympics. We were trying to get her stopped, but she's always been a good scorer."

Not quite like this, though.

De Bruijn scored three of the first four goals, helping stake the Dutch to a 4-0 lead before the Americans could blink. She scored two more right after halftime, giving her team a 7-5 advantage. And she saved her best for last, scoring twice on power plays that turned out to be the difference.

The lefthander, who was so disappointed her country didn't qualify for the 2004 Games in Athens, helped them make amends four years later. The Dutch knocked out defending Olympic gold medalist Italy in the quarterfinals, sent Hungary to the bronze medal game in the semifinals, and delivered their biggest upset in the finals.

Not bad for a country that came to Beijing ranked ninth. Now, they're leaving on top.

De Bruijn is going out that way, too, calling it quits after more than a decade on the national team and in need of knee surgery.

The Americans left Yingdong Natatorium with long faces, having had to compose themselves before begrudgingly accepting silver - again. They won bronze in Athens and silver in Sydney.

"It's just a little bittersweet," Natalie Golda said as she wiped away tears. "It's an amazing thing to have an Olympic medal. But we had the game. Like, we had it in our grasp and we let it slip away. You can't be angry with a medal, a silver medal. It's a great thing, but it's bittersweet right now. And knowing it's the end of a lot of people's careers, and you'd like to go out with a win, it's just the way sport is."

Teammates Brenda Villa and Heather Petri, both three-time Olympians, plan to retire after Beijing. Both hoped to round out their medal collections with gold.

"The only thing I ever promised our players is if they are dedicated, they can cross their goals," Baker said. "This is going to be a bitter disappointment instead of joy. This time we were on the short end."

The Americans were ranked No. 1 in the world and looked like they might get the gold medal that has eluded them.

They may have had they been able to stop de Bruijn. Despite her scoring prowess, the Americans had several chances to tie in the waning seconds, but Elsie Windes missed an outside shot and Villa couldn't put home the rebound.

"I like the way we came back," Baker said. "I don't think we ever panicked down, 4-0. We just could never get over the hump."

The United States overcame the 4-0 deficit to tie it at 5 at halftime and again evened the score, 8-all, with 5:05 remaining, on Moriah van Norman's goal from the 2-meter area.

But Villa was called for an exclusion penalty with 45 seconds left, putting the Dutch in a 6-on-5 situation - and giving de Bruijn extra space to operate.

She made it count, pump-faking from the top of the zone and then unleashing an overhead shot that whipped by goalkeeper Betsy Armstrong for the go-ahead score with 26 seconds left.

"This moment is very special for her," Netherlands coach Robin van Galen said.

Added de Bruijn: "This is great to play this way in the last game."