BEIJING • The immediacy of a loss is always painful.Lose in a gold-medal game or match and the pain only intensifies.

Athletes who have combined with other athletes for years to work toward gold, never envision another metal, or, in this case, medal. Members of the U.S. water polo team had long, subdued faces after the 14-10 loss against Hungary.

It’s an understandable reaction. After all, who celebrates second?

At these Olympics, everything has been about gold. And the emphasis should be on being the best, on striving to reach the pinnacle of the discipline.

However, that emphasis shouldn’t supersede giving all you have to give during that performance – being the best you can be for that moment.

Do that, allow gold to tint the accomplishments of silver and bronze, and it’s undeniable that you’re not looking at the Olympics the way they were meant to be watched.The Olympics are about more than the gold. They’re about the journey to whatever outcome awaits.

Just last year, the American water polo team was rife with infighting. Terry Schroeder, a two-time silver medalist in water polo, took over as coach. Schroeder was the team’s fourth coach in as many years.

Schroeder instituted military-type training, not to get the players in better shape physically, but to get them in better shape mentally.

Water polo is a sport that one person cannot dominate. Sure there are good players, but one doesn’t beat five or six. Schroeder knew he needed to turn the individuals into a team. They had to be able to trust each other, something that wasn’t happening enough.

“We tried to get them to believe in each other and trust each other and good things started to happen,” Schroeder said after the U.S. beat Serbia to make it to the gold-medal game. “Nobody would have believed this eight months ago.”

Days from now, maybe weeks or even months the water polo team will look at this Olympic experience and have a better understanding of the totality of what they accomplished here – even in gaining silver.

• The U.S. team was ranked ninth in the world entering the Games.• Every Olympic gold medal won in men’s water polo has been won by a European country.• Hungary was-the two time defending champion. It was going for its ninth gold medal overall. Water polo in Hungary is akin to football or basketball in the states. The final was Hungary’s fifth consecutive final in the World Championships and Olympics combined.• The U.S. men’s team last won a water polo medal, silver, at the Seoul Olympics, 20 years ago.

That’s what the U.S. team was going against, history. Yet it persevered.

It beat Croatia, Germany and Serbia, all water polo teams with pedigree that the American team hopes for some day.

“I think it’s huge for USA Water Polo,” Schroeder said. “Like I told those guys in there, it’s going to hurt tonight, tomorrow and for a few days. But as the weeks go on and the months go on, they’re going to realize what a huge accomplishment this is. They beat some great teams along the way to get here.

“We’ve come a long way. Nobody expected us to be here. It’s been a fun ride for me.”

Entering the gold-medal game, the U.S. had given up an average of six goals. It gave up that in the first quarter. But it was also able to match the Hungarian scoring machine.

The U.S. even tied the score, 9-9, in the early part of the third quarter. Hungary was too powerful of a team, though. It consistently got the ball inside and was able to score over, around and under the outstretched arms of the American goalies.The game wasn’t a contest from midway through the third quarter on.

The American track and field sprint teams caught flak here, not because they failed to get gold medals, but because they failed to show up. They didn’t give themselves the opportunity to be great.

The men’s water polo team did that. It lost, but gave each of its members, a chance to do something no American team has done.

It’s difficult to ask for more than that and expect to get to get it.

Giving one’s self the opportunity to be great – that’s what the Olympics are all about.-Columnist Milo Bryant can be reached at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazettedev.gazette.com. Check out Milo’s blog, The Extra Milo, at milobryant.blogspot.com

US Men’s Volleyball player Ryan Millar cries as he hugs teammate Scott Touzinsky following the US team’s Gold Medal win over Brazil Sunday, August 24, 2008, at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette

MARK REIS