Serbia won their third straight Olympic gold in men’s water polo with a 13-11 victory over Croatia at La Defense Arena on Sunday. The Serbs were beaten three times during the group stage of the competition but came alive in the knockout stage beating Greece and the USA before an impressive display in the gold medal game. Uros Stevanovic’s side were 8-5 up at half-time and never looked in danger of letting their lead slip against the 2012 gold medallists. “We had our ups and downs. But we are famous for this, we are very hard to beat in the elimination phase. Everybody, I think, underestimated us a little bit because of the results in the group. It happens,” said defender Dusan Mandic, who played in all three gold medal winning teams. “We were prepared for when it was the most important. I think only those of us that were here, the players and the coaches, believed in this. That the gold would happen,” he said. “It’s incredible. This is the power of unity. This is the team spirit. This is defence, defence, defence until the end, sacrificing for each other,” he said.