The Netherlands beat Germany in a shoot-out to win the men’s Olympic hockey gold on Thursday, breaking a 24-year drought in what they hope will be the first of a Dutch double.
A tense game ended all square at 1-1, with fourth-quarter goals in quick succession from Dutch captain Thierry Brinkman and Germany’s Thies Prinz. The match went to a shoot-out, with each player going one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The first two efforts for each side were saved before Brinkman put the Dutch 1-0 up. Dutch keeper Pirmin Blaak then saved again from Prinz, giving the Netherlands the edge over their bitter rivals.
Thijs van Dam and Justus Weigand both netted for the Netherlands, leaving Duco Telgenkamp with the chance to win the match.
The 22-year-old nonchalantly scooped the ball beyond Jean-Paul Danneberg in the German goal to give the Dutch their first gold medal in the men’s competition since 2000. The Netherlands face China in the women’s final today. The Germans and the Dutch share a lengthy rivalry as two of the great powerhouses of world hockey.
Germany, the reigning world champions, came into the match with the confidence of knowing they had edged the pool game between the sides 1-0.
They also had history on their side having won all four of their previous Olympic finals including against the Dutch in London in 2012. For their part, the Dutch team were keen to bounce back from what was seen as a disastrous campaign in Tokyo, which saw them finish sixth – their worst result since 1984. The first half was played at a furious pace as both sides looked for a way through the tightly organised defences.
That made for just four shots at goal, three of them falling to Germany, who also had the only penalty corner which Tom Grambusch was unable to convert. It was the Germans, under the watchful eye of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the stands, who dominated possession with 62 percent over the first 30 minutes. The Dutch, cheered on by another vast army of orange-clad supporters, began to assert themselves as the game moved into the third quarter. They made their dominance count in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
Koen Bijen flicked the ball across goal for Brinkman to stab home on the volley from close range. Shortly after, Gonzalo Peillat – an Olympic champion with Argentina in 2016 – hooked brilliantly off the German line as Bijen’s flick appeared to be heading in. Immediately the Germans were up the other end, forcing a penalty corner which Prinz, on his second attempt, slammed past Blaak.
Johannes Grosse came close to a winner two minutes from time with Blaak again making a good stop and the Dutch then failed to capitalise on a penalty corner – their only one of the game – in the final minute, sending the game into a dramatic shoot-out.
Earlier Eight-time champions India came from behind to collect their 13th hockey medal with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Spain in the bronze medal match.
Harmanpreet Singh scored from two penalty corners after Marc Miralles had given Spain the lead at the Yves du Manoir Stadium in Colombes, northwest of Paris. It is India’s fourth bronze medal, and second in succession following Tokyo, and adds to their eight golds, the last of which came in 1980, and one silver.