Tempesti helps Italy win bronze in men's water polo

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ' Stefano Tempesti sat on a lane line and raised his arms in the air. It was one last chance to enjoy the view, and the goaltender made the most of the opportunity.Tempesti had 10 saves, Christian Presciutti scored four times and Italy beat Montenegro 12-10 on Saturday for the bronze medal in men's water polo at the Rio Games.It's the second straight Olympic medal for Italy, which lost to Croatia in the London final. Italy also became the only country to medal in each water polo tournament in Brazil, with the women taking home silver on Friday."It's a great moment for (the) Italian water polo team," Tempesti said.The 37-year-old Tempesti had surgery on his right eye after he got hurt in the final match of the Italian championship in May. He finished with 51 saves in his fifth Olympics.Asked if the victory over Montenegro was his final game, he responded: "I think so. I'm quite sure, yeah.""To be here with my eye, all the surgery, everything, day by day I had to learn how to come back in this Olympics," Tempesti said, "and winning this medal, it's the right reward, the best reward for what I have gone through in the last few months."Valentino Gallo added three goals for Italy, which lost to Serbia in the semifinals.Montenegro finished fourth for the third straight Olympics."We must make some changes, put some new players (on the team), but in this moment we don't have a lot of good young players," Montenegro coach Vladimir Gojkovic said. "If we did they would be here now."Aleksandar Radovic scored with 1:57 left to get Montenegro within one. But Matteo Aicardi, wearing a mask to protect his broken nose from earlier in the tournament, connected on a long-range skip shot to help close it out for Italy."That's what happens when you are heroes," Tempesti said. "Heroes do things like that."Mladan Janovic scored three goals for Montenegro, which lost to Croatia in the semifinals.___Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenapJoin the conversation about this story
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