Luca Cupido

Luca Cupido
Cupido in 2017
Personal information
NationalityItalian-born American
Born (1995-11-09) November 9, 1995
Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy
Height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight209 lb (95 kg)
Sport
SportWater polo
College teamUniversity California Berkeley
ClubNewport Beach Water Polo Club
Coached byRobert Lynn (Newport Harbor High)
Kirk Everist (UC Berkeley)
Dejan Udovičić (Olympics)
Medal record
Men's water polo
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2024 ParisTeam
World Cup
Bronze medal – third place2023 Los AngelesTeam
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place2015 TorontoTeam
Gold medal – first place2019 LimaTeam
Gold medal – first place2023 SantiagoTeam

Luca Cupido (/ˈluːkə kuːˈpiːdoʊ/ LOO-kə koo-PEE-doh; born November 9, 1995)[1] is an Italian-born American water polo player who was a four-time All American at the University of California, Berkeley, winning the Peter J. Cutino Award as the top collegiate player of the year in 2018. He was part of the American water polo team at the 2016 Summer Olympics,[2] that finished in tenth place. He was later part of the US water polo team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that finished in sixth place, and the US water polo team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, that finished in third place, winning a bronze medal, the first since 2008.[3]

Early life

Cupido was born November 9, 1995 in Genoa, Genova, Italy and grew up in the suburb of Santa Margherita Ligure. He was part of the youth program at Rari Nantes Camogli, in Camogli, Liguria, Italy. Cupido played with youth national teams in Italy, capturing titles at both the U18 and U20 age group World Championships, and the U19 European Championship.[4] He later attended Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach, California, where he made All American first team honors with their strong water polo program in 2013 and was coached by Robert Lynn, a 2000 Water Polo Olympian. In club play, he competed for the Newport Beach Water Polo Club.[5][6]

Pan American games

Cupido captured a gold medal with the U.S. National team at the Pan American Games in 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was one of the US National team's highest scorers that year.[3] He won additional gold medals in the Pan American games with one in 2019 in Lima, Peru, and one in 2023 in Santiago, Chile.[3][6]

UC Berkeley

Peter J. Cutino Trophy

Cupido attended the University of California Berkeley where he competed in water polo under Head Coach Kirk Everist.[7] With an exceptional career at Berkeley, he was a 2018 Peter J. Cutino Award winner, an honor given only to the most outstanding American collegiate water polo player of the year. Cupido was an All American in four years, and was a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Newcomer of the Year in 2014 as a Freshman, where he scored a total of 42 goals.[6] In 2017, he was a Mountain Pacific Conference leading scorer credited with a total of 58 goals, and was a National Player of the Year.[8] In one of his most outstanding seasons in 2017, he played nearly every field position, and was credited with 46 assists, 48 season steals, and had 19 field blocks.[6]

In a collegiate highlight in 2016, he helped lead U. California Berkeley to the NCAA National title, and was credited with 30 goals during their championship year. In the 2016 national championship game against the University of Southern California in 2016, Cupido scored a point in the first overtime to help lead UC Berkeley to win by a score of 11-8.[6]

2016 Rio Olympics

Cupido participated in the Olympic water polo tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where the U.S. team finished 10th overall, under U.S. Head Olympic Coach Dejan Udovičić, a former Serbian Head Coach. Serbia and Croatia were pre-game favorites. By the end of the tournament, Serbia took the Gold, Croatia the silver, and Italy the bronze medal.[3] In close, well-played matches, in their second game, the U.S. team lost to Spain 10-9, and lost their first game against Croatia 7-5.[9][10]

2020 Tokyo Olympics

In 2021, Cupido was nominated for his second Olympics with Team USA for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Once again playing for U.S. Head Coach Dejan Udovičić, the United States team finished sixth with Serbia taking the gold medal, Greece taking the silver, and Hungary taking the gold.[3][11]

2024 Paris Olympics

In 2024, Cupido participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics in the water polo competition where the U.S. team won a third place bronze medal under Head Coach Dejan Udovičić.[12] Serbia was favored to win having taken the gold medal in the prior two Olympics. In the semi-final matches, Serbia defeated the U.S. team 10-6, but recovering in the bronze medal match, the U.S. defeated the team from Hungary 11-8 after scoring in a penalty shoot-out. An important, contributor, Cupido was credited with five total goals at the Paris Olympics. At the end of play, the favored team from Serbia took the gold, and Croatia took the silver.[8][3][12]

European club play

In professional and European-based water polo, Cupido has played for CC Ortigia in his native Italy, and played with Barcelona in Spain in the 2022-23 season. He had formerly played for Italy's Pro Recco and Camogli in Serie A2.[8] In the 2025-2026 season, he signed with Italy's Nordic League-based Rari Nantes Sori team, near his native town of Liguria and coached by Willy Molina.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "CUPIDO Luka". Paris 2024 Olympics. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Luca CUPIDO - Olympic - United States of America". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Olympedia Biography, Luca Cupido". Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Waterpolo360, American Olympian Luca Cupido returns to Sori". Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Boys' Water Polo: Robert Lynn steps down as Newport Harbor HS coach". Daily Pilot. August 5, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "University of California Berkeley Men's Water Polo, #6, Luca Cupido". Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  7. ↑ "California Golden Bears Men's Water Polo, Kirk Everist, Head Coach". Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 "USA Water Polo, Men's Senior National Team, Luca Cupido, Biography". Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Bevins, Vincent, "U.S. Medal Hopes Fading", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, August 9, 2016, pg. D10".
  10. ↑ "DeGeorge, Matthew, USA Water Polo Renews Contracts of Adam Krikorian and Dejan Udovičić through 2028". Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  11. ↑ "USA Water Polo Announces U.S. Olympic Men's Water Polo Team Nominees for Tokyo Olympic Games". usawaterpolo.org. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  12. 1 2 ""Valente Dominant in Repeat Omnium Glory", The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, August 12, 2024". Retrieved July 21, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.