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Tony Azevedo

Riocentro, Av. Salvador Allende, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Tony Azevedo competed at five Olympics for the United States men's water polo team between 2000 and 2016, becoming the most decorated American water polo player in Olympic history and serving as team captain for the majority of his lengthy international career. His combination of scoring ability and leadership helped the US men's team reach the gold medal game at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the country's best Olympic men's water polo finish in decades, though the team ultimately settled for silver. Azevedo's father, a Brazilian water polo player and coach, gave him an early technical foundation in the sport, and Tony's sustained excellence across five Olympics reflected both that early training and his own remarkable individual longevity at the sport's highest international level. His combined five Olympic appearances and his role as the face of American men's water polo throughout the 2000s and 2010s have made Azevedo the individual most closely associated with the sport's relatively limited but genuine following within the United States.

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