Sports
Forged in triumph and tragedy, UCLA's Adam Krikorian keeps Olympic loss in perspective
All things being equal, Adam Krikorian would rather win than lose.
“It is much easier,” he said.
And Krikorian would know since he’s won a lot, capturing 15 national championships as a water polo player and coach at UCLA and 24 world and Olympic titles as coach of the U.S. women’s team.
But if winning is easier, losing, Krikorian believes, is more revealing.
“Adversity is a test of character more than anything,” he said. “It’s easy to be the person you aspire to be when you’re winning and when you’re having success. Trying to be that person when you’re not at the top of the mountain is a much more difficult thing to do.
“Much more honorable as well.”
That philosophy was put to the test on the biggest stage and under some of the cruelest circumstances of Krikorian’s career last month at the Paris Olympics. The U.S. women, heavily favored to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold medal, lost their last two games despite trailing for just one second of those final 64 minutes.
In the blink of an eye, the team had gone from a spot on the medal podium to leaving the Summer Games empty-handed for the first time. Years of sacrifice, dedication and training had gone unrewarded.
“A lot of tears,” Krikorian said of the moment. “The feelings and emotions are endless. There’s anger, there’s frustration, there’s a ton of sadness.”
U.S. women’s water polo coach walks past his players during a preliminary match against Spain on July 29.
(Luca Bruno / Associated Press)
“One of my goals when I started coaching was to inspire people, to be someone that could bring the best out of others.”
— Adam Krikorian
But there was also opportunity because Krikorian has never seen himself as just a coach. He’s also a leader. And that’s exactly what the 13 sobbing women gathered around him on the pool deck needed.
So they closed ranks, took responsibility and, through the tears, saluted the women who beat them. Winning isn’t always about the final score; sometimes it’s how you react to that result.
“This is what life is; the reality of life,” he said then. “You don’t stand on top of the podium every single time. We lost to a better team. In these heartbreaking moments, you’ve got to learn from it. You’ve got to put it in perspective.”
Krikorian’s approach has become rare. That makes the lessons he’s teaching of grace, sportsmanship and humility even more important, said Richard Lapchick, president of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.
“In an era when ethics and values are often forgotten in the pursuit of victory, Coach Krikorian told his team that they had an opportunity to show greatness in defeat. He told him to show their character and the players followed their coach. He told them that they could rise above the loss and show that it was OK to lose as long as you play hard and show class in defeat,” Lapchick said. “Hopefully, all of his players will remember that lesson as they go through life after sports.”
Like the fictional soccer coach Ted Lasso, Krikorian speaks in inspirational aphorisms as often as he does in complete sentences and many of those maxims come from John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach and Krikorian’s mentor, who also put character above victory.
“He’s got this great quote,” Krikorian begins before reciting one of Wooden’s favorite lessons.
No written word nor spoken plea can teach our youth what they should be. Nor all the books on all the shelves. It’s what the teachers are themselves.
“One of my goals when I started coaching was to inspire people, to be someone that could bring the best out of others,” Krikorian continued. “And I have a set of values that I try to follow. When you have those things that are your guiding light, it makes it pretty easy.”
Goalie Ashleigh Johnson, a three-time Olympian, said the U.S. team has long fed off Krikorian’s convictions.
“Adam’s leadership shines through,” said Johnson, a two-time gold medalist and winner of multiple world championships.
“We have a lot of discussions about perspective, about what we want, where we want to go. And a lot of that isn’t just how we want to be seen as athletes, how we want to be as people and who we represent. Just realizing we’re getting to have fun for our career, not many people get to do that. So even the disappointing moments are things that you face with perspective and joy.”
Krikorian learned about perspective the hard way. The coach saw his brother, Blake, die of a heart attack at 48, just before the start of the 2016 Rio Games, and his father, Gary, at 81, two months before the Tokyo Olympics. He also lost four of his college teammates and one of his UCLA players at young ages.
Jim Toring was 23 when he was hit by a bus in Paris on a national team trip. Brett Stern was 31 when he was killed in a car accident in Irvine. Brian Bent died of sleep apnea at 29 and Terry Baker of cancer at 43. Marco Santos, whom Krikorian coached to a national team, died of ALS three weeks shy of his 29th birthday.
If anyone had reason to be bitter about fate it was Krikorian. But he channeled that grief in a different direction.
“It just made me — I can’t explain why — appreciate my life even more,” said Krikorian, who keeps a journal and talks regularly with Peter Haberl, the team’s sports psychologist. “I’m grateful for all that I have and the health and the life I’ve been able to live.”
U.S. women’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian celebrates with his players after the team’s gold-medal win over Spain at the Tokyo Olympic Games in August 2021.
(Gary Ambrose / For the Times)
His players have had their perspective tested as well. In the lead-up to this summer’s Olympics, team leader Maddie Musselman learned her husband, Patrick Woepse, had stage 4 lung cancer. Then days before the opening ceremony, Lulu Conner, the sister-in-law of U.S. captain Maggie Steffens, suffered a fatal medical emergency in Paris.
Before that three players survived a deadly shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas, another narrowly escaped a terrorist bombing in a Belgian train station and two more were injured in a balcony collapse at a hotel in South Korea.
Given those real-life tragedies, it was easy for Krikorian and his players to look at what happened in the pool in Paris — where the U.S. lost its semifinal to Australia in a penalty shootout, then fell to the Netherlands in the bronze-medal match on a goal in the final second — as just games.
And in every game, there’s a winner and a loser.
A couple of weeks after returning from Paris, over a late breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon at a cafe near his South Bay home, Krikorian acknowledged the two losses still haunt him. But he continues to embrace the lessons of those losses.
“Success in life is usually defined by not how you respond to the wins but how you respond to the losses and how you deal with adversity,” he said.
“I would love, as we all would, not to have to deal with adversity. But it’s a reminder that it’s just part of life. There’s an acronym, FEAR, that I heard once. It’s either Fear Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise. That’s my choice.”
Krikorian didn’t learn that from Wooden. That perspective, he said, came from life experiences as well as from his father, who played football at Occidental with future NFL coach Jim Mora and future AFL champion quarterback Jack Kemp.
“I’m 50 years old, so I’d like to think I’ve matured,” Krikorian said. “I don’t know if I had the same perspective when I was 20. I’m a product of my parents, understanding kind of where this whole thing fits in life. And I think about my father quite a bit.
“The one thing that he was always instilling in us as children was just to be able to handle defeat in a classy way. So for me, in some ways, it’s about honoring my father.”
Krikorian’s two children — Annabel, a 15-year-old track athlete at Mira Costa High and Jack, an 18-year-old swimmer — have also adopted their grandfather’s philosophy about sportsmanship.
“I’m always impressed with how encouraging and respectful my son is, complimenting even his biggest rivals,” Krikorian said. “Always shaking hands and wishing them luck. I think it catches some kids off guard at times.”
With the L.A. Games four years away, Krikorian’s future with the U.S. team remains uncertain. He nearly stepped down after winning a third straight gold medal in Tokyo but now acknowledges he’s excited about the possibility of coaching in the Olympics in his adopted hometown.
It’s unclear if Adam Krikorian will be coaching the U.S. women’s water polo team at the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games in 2028.
(Luca Bruno / Associated Press)
The decision, however, may not be his. Jamie Davis, the CEO of USA volleyball the past eight years, will assume a similar role with USA Water Polo on Oct. 1, replacing Christopher Ramsey, the man who first hired Krikorian out of UCLA in 2009.
Given the tragic history that has surrounded Krikorian’s teams, however, the coach said he’s questioned the wisdom of returning.
“This sounds ridiculous, but it’s like I don’t want to coach in 2028 because I’m fearful of someone else dying,” he said. “It’s an irrational thought to have but it’s a thought that’s come up.”
Johnson, who became the only Black woman to play on a U.S. Olympic water polo team when Krikorian named her to the roster in 2016, said the program would be different without him.
“I love playing under Adam,” said Johnson, the most decorated goalkeeper in women’s water polo history.
“The attitude that you see and the wins, the successes that we’ve had, the development that you’ve seen, is a reflection of Adam’s influence on us. I’m sure he’s influenced a lot of people. The empathy, the leadership, he’s definitely transformed this program for the better.”
And those last things, not the wins and the titles, are what Krikorian wants to be remembered for.
“A lot of people, when they introduce me to friends, they introduce me as, ‘Oh this guy is a three-time gold medalist and he won 15 national championships at UCLA’,” Krikorian said. “Although it makes me feel good as I appreciate it, there’s always been a part of that that’s been slightly annoying. I don’t want anything that has to do with water polo on my tombstone. That’s not how I wanted to be remembered.
“Ultimately, you’re judged on who you are as a person.”
Sports
Eileen Gu reflects on decision to leave Team USA for China: ‘A lot of people just don’t understand’
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Eileen Gu released a statement on social media Monday, reflecting on her controversial decision to compete for Team China despite being born and raised in the U.S.
Gu’s statement tied the decision back to her passion for promoting women’s sports, and encouraging young girls to pursue sports.
“I gave my first speech on women in sports and title IX when I was 11 years old. I talked about being the only girl on my ski team, and, despite attending an all-girls’ school from Monday through Friday, becoming best friends with my teammates on the weekends through the common language of sport,” Gu wrote on Instagram.
Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China poses for photos after the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images) (Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images)
“At the same time, I was made painfully aware of the lack of representation – at age 9, I felt that I was somehow representing all women every time I stepped in the terrain park. Landing tricks was about more than progression … it was about disproving the derisive implication of what it meant to ‘ski like a girl.’”
Gu went on to express gratitude for the one season in which she did compete for the U.S.
“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China. At the time, I had spent one season on the US team, and had been lucky enough to meet my heroes in person. I am forever grateful for that season, and continue to maintain a close relationship with the team. I had spent every summer in China since I was 8 setting up summer camps on trampoline and dry slope for kids and adults, ranging from 7 to 47 years old, so I knew the industry was tiny. I felt like I knew everyone,” she added.
“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport, and to introduce freeskiing to hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of it, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner.”
Gu’s statement concluded by acknowledging that certain people “don’t understand” her decision to compete for China over the U.S., while insisting the choice maximized the impact she would have.
“I can look back now, at 22, and tell 12 year old Eileen that there are now terrain parks full of little girls, who will never doubt their place in the sport. I can tell 15 year old me that there are now millions of girls who have started skiing since then, in China and worldwide,” Gu wrote.
“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create the greatest amount of positive impact on the world stage that I could, at this age, given my interests and passions. Three golds and six medals later, I can confidently say was once a dream is now a reality.”
Gu has become a target for global criticism this Olympics for her decision to represent China while remaining silent on the country’s alleged human rights abuses.
In an interview with Time magazine, Gu was asked her thoughts on China’s alleged persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
“I haven’t done the research. I don’t think it’s my business. I’m not going to make big claims on my social media,” Gu answered.
“I’m just more of a skeptic when it comes to data in general. … So, it’s not like I can read an article and be like, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.’ I need to have a ton of evidence. I need to maybe go to the place, maybe talk to 10 primary source people who are in a location and have experienced life there.
“Then I need to go see images. I need to listen to recordings. I need to think about how history affects it. Then I need to read books on how politics affects it. This is a lifelong search. It’s irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece for any agenda.”
More controversy surrounding Gu erupted after The Wall Street Journal reported that Gu and another American-born athlete who now competes for China, were paid a combined $6.6 million by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in 2025.
Gu is the highest-paid Winter Olympics athlete in the world, making an estimated $23 million in 2025 alone due to partnerships with Chinese companies, including the Bank of China and western companies.
Her alignment with China prompted criticism from many Americans this Olympics, including Vice President J.D. Vance.
“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”
Later, when Gu was asked if she feels “like a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment,” she said she does.
“I do,” she said. “So many athletes compete for a different country. … People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. So, it’s not really about what they think it’s about.
“And, also, because I win. Like, if I wasn’t doing well, I think that they probably wouldn’t care as much, and that’s OK for me. People are entitled to their opinions.”
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Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China attends the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Hongxiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Gu has claimed she was “physically assaulted” for the decision.
“The police were called. I’ve had death threats. I’ve had my dorm robbed,” Gu told The Athletic.
“I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever.”
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Sports
Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Evans, Carl Lewis new members of California’s Hall of Fame
From Hollywood actors to Olympic athletes and politicians, California’s newest Hall of Fame class runs the gamut in talent and achievements.
Academy Award-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and former governor/action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olympic champions Janet Evans and Carl Lewis, authors Riane Eisler and Terry McMillan, chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, groundbreaking ensemble Mariachi Reyne de Los Ángeles and former state Democratic leader John L. Burton all earned a spot into the assembly of distinct Californians, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.
This class, the 19th in state history, will be formally enshrined during a ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento on March 19 as a “celebration of their contributions to civic life, creativity, and social progress,” according to Newsom’s office.
The inductees “have reshaped our culture and our communities. Resilient and innovative, these leaders and luminaries represent the best of the California spirit,” Newsom said in a statement.
To be inducted, candidates must have lived in California for at least five years and “have made achievements benefiting the state, nation and world,” according to the California Hall of Fame website. To date, 166 Californians have been selected by three governors since 2006.
Schwarzenegger, 78, served as the state’s 38th governor and last Republican head of state from 2003 to 2011. His renaissance man biography includes a career as a body builder, highlighted by his Mr. Universe titles, action film success, political stardom and even tabloid-fodder infidelity.
Curtis, 67, a Santa Monica native, is among Hollywood’s elite and teamed with Schwarzenegger in the action blockbuster “True Lies” in 1994. Her acting career dates to 1977, and she earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 2023 for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Evans, 54, is a four-time Olympic gold medal swimmer and Fullerton native who attended Placentia El Dorado High School, Stanford University and USC. She serves as chief athletic officer for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Lewis, 64, is considered by many one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. The track star won 10 medals, nine of them gold, in four Olympics.
Eisler, 88, and McMillan, 74, added multiple bestsellers to this Hall of Fame class.
Eisler’s critically acclaimed “The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future” examines roughly 20,000 years of partnership between men and women and male domination over the last 5,000 years. The futurist, cultural historian and Holocaust survivor who has degrees in sociology and law from UCLA said she was informed of the honor last year by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and recently was honored by the Austrian government with its Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class.
“I am very honored at this time in my life to be inducted into the California Hall of Fame,” Eisler wrote in an email. “I have worked tirelessly to help create a better world, and firmly believe that a new paradigm, a new way of looking at our world and our place in it, is crucial.”
McMillan has written a series of smash hits, including a couple that became major studio films in the ‘90s, “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got her Groove Back,” centered on Black women’s voices.
Matsuhisa, 76, know for his iconic Japanese restaurant Nobu, which has six locations in California, owns businesses across five continents.
Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles, founded in South El Monte, rewrote the rules of music, becoming the first all-woman mariachi ensemble that has entertained for more than three decades.
Burton, the former chair of the California Democratic Party who died last year at 92, boasted a political career that included time in the California State Assembly and Senate and the U.S. House.
“This year’s class embodies the very best of California — creativity, resilience and a spirit of community,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “These honorees remind us that innovation and courage flourish when people are lifted up by those around them.”
Sports
Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime
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Ali Haji-Sheikh and Shar Pourdanesh share the fact they are retired NFL players living beyond the glow of the NFL spotlight. But they also share another distinction tying them to current events: They are part of the Iranian diaspora hoping for the downfall of the Islamic revolution.
They make up part of a small group of men who played in the NFL – along with David Bakhtiari, his brother Eric Bakhtiari and T.J. Housmandzadeh – who are decedents of Iranians.
Washington Redskins kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) talks to reporters at Jack Murphy Stadium during media day prior to Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. San Diego, California, on Jan. 26, 1988.(Darr Beiser/USA TODAY Sports)
Haji-Sheikh: Self-Determination For Iranians
Haji-Sheikh, 65, played in the 1980s for the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He was a first-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and was on the NFL All-Rookie team in 1983 for the Giants and, in his final season, won a Super Bowl XXII ring playing for the Washington Redskins and kicking six extra points in a 42-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.
Now, Haji-Sheikh is the general manager at a Michigan Porsche-Audi dealership and is like the rest of us: Keeping up with world events when time permits.
Except the war the United States is currently waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran is kind of different because Haji-Sheikh’s dad emigrated from Iran to the United States in the 1950s and built a life here.
And his son would like to see freedom come to a country he’s never visited but has a kinship to.
“It’s a world event,” Haji-Sheikh said on Monday. “I am not a big fan of the Islamic revolution because I am not Islamic. I would like to see the people of Iran be able to determine their own future rather than it be determined by a few people. It would be nice to see them having a stable government where the people can actually decide how they want it to go.
Green Bay Packers kicker Al Del Greco (10) talks with New York Giants kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) on Sept. 15, 1985, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Giants 23-20.
Iranians Celebrating And Americans Protesting
Haji-Sheikh hasn’t taken to the streets of his native Michigan to celebrate a liberation that hasn’t fully manifested mere days after the American and Israeli bombing and elimination of the Ayatollah.
“I’m so far removed from that,” Haji-Sheikh said. “My mom is from Michigan and of Eastern European background. My dad is from Iran. But it’s like, he hasn’t been back since I was in eighth grade, so that’s a long time ago. That was when the Shah was still in power, mid-70s, ‘74 or ’75, because if he ever went back after that he never would have left. They would have held him, so there was no intention of going back.
“But if things change he might want to go, you never know.”
Despite being removed from any activism about what is happening in Iran Haji-Sheikh is an astute observer.
“My favorite thing I’m seeing right now on TV is the Iranians in America celebrating because there’s a chance, a glimpse, maybe a hope for freedom,” Haji-Sheikh said. “And you have these people in New York protesting. What are you protesting?”
Pourdanesh Thanks America, Israel
Pourdanesh retired from the NFL in 2000 after a seven-year career with the Redskins and Steelers. The six-foot-six and 312-pound offensive tackle was born in Tehran. He proudly tells people he was the NFL’s first Iranian-born player.
Pourdanesh is much more visible and open about his feelings about his country than others. And, bottom line, he loves that President Donald Trump is bombing the Islamic regime.
“This is a great day for all Iranians across the world,” Pourdanesh posted on his Instagram account on Saturday when the war began. “Thank you, President Trump, thank you to the nation of Israel. Thank you for everybody that has been standing up for my people, my brothers and sisters in Iran across the world. This is a great day.
“The infamous dictator is dead – the one person who has contributed to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and other people around the world, if not more. So, congratulations to my Iranian brothers and sisters. Now, go and take back the country.”
This message was not a one-off. Pourdanesh has been posting about what has been happening in Iran since January, when people in Iran took to the streets demanding liberty and the government’s thugs began killing them, with some estimates rising to 36,500 deaths.
Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh (68) of the Pittsburgh Steelers blocks against defensive lineman Jevon Kearse (90) of the Tennessee Titans during a game at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 24, 2000, in Pittsburgh. The Titans defeated the Steelers 23-20. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
‘Islam Does Not Represent The Iranian People’
“[The] Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people,” Pourdanesh said in another post. “Islam does not represent the Iranian people. For almost 50 years, the Iranian people and our country of Iran has been taken hostage by a terrorist regime, and it’s time to take that regime down.”
Pourdanesh was not available for comment on Monday. I did speak to a handful of other Iranian-Americans on Monday. They didn’t play in the NFL, but their opinions are no less valuable than those of former NFL players.
And these people, some of them participating in rallies on behalf of a free Iran, do not understand the thinking of some Americans and mainstream media.
One complained that media that reports on reparations for black Americans based on slavery in the 1800s dismisses the Islamic takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 as an old grievance.
Another said his brother lives in England, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately called the American and Israeli attacks on the Ayatollah’s regime “illegal” but, as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service took years to do the same of Muslim rape (grooming) gangs in the country.
(Starmer announced a national “statutory inquiry” in June 2025).
Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh of the Washington Redskins looks on from the sideline during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 7, 1997, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers defeated the Redskins 14-13. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
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Pourdanesh Calls Out NFL Silence
And finally, Pourdanesh put the NFL on blast. He said in yet another post that during his career, the NFL asked him to honor black history, asked him to stand for women’s rights, asked him to fight for equality for those who cannot defend themselves.
“I did everything they asked, and now I ask the NFL this: Where are you now? Why haven’t we heard a single word out of the NFL? NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the NFL teams out there, all the players who say they stand for social justice, where are you now?
“Why haven’t we heard a single word out of you with regard to the people who have been killed as of today? The very values you claim to espouse are being trampled right now. Why haven’t we heard a single word?”
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