The Netherlands has once again won gold in women’s field hockey, completing a historic sweep of the Olympic titles.
The Dutch team defended their title from Tokyo, coming from behind to defeat China 2-1 in a shootout during the Paris Olympics final on Friday night.
This win followed the Dutch men’s team securing gold the day before. The Netherlands is the first country to win both field hockey gold medals since the women’s tournament started in 1980.
“We have both golds — that’s historic,” said Pien Sanders, who scored in the shootout nearly 24 hours after her boyfriend Thijs van Dam won with the men’s team. “This means everything. I think the pressure is always really high for the Dutch team, and that we are here with gold, it’s so beautiful.”
Like the men, the women’s victory was celebrated by a large crowd of Dutch fans in Yves-du-Manoir Stadium. The team faced challenges, falling behind early when Chen Yi scored for China.
The Dutch, who had only trailed for six minutes throughout the tournament, had many chances to score but faced a tough match.
Maria Verschoor admitted it was nerve-wracking. “Till the end I was like, ‘Oh my God, is it going to happen?’ All the time we were saying: ‘OK, it’s coming. It’s coming.’”
Yibbi Jansen equalized with a penalty corner goal, and Sanders, Verschoor, and Marijn Veen scored in the shootout. The win set off a celebration that could last all night for the Dutch players and their fans.
“We have all these celebrations,” Verschoor said. “I think we will have a lot of parties in the coming days.”
Jansen, who was the top goal scorer of the tournament with nine goals, mentioned: “If it was not gold, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that counts is that we win.”
The Netherlands won their second consecutive Olympic gold with former coach Alyson Annan now coaching China. Annan, who led the Netherlands to gold in Tokyo in 2021, left her position in early 2022 after an investigation into team culture following player complaints.
Annan said China should be proud of their performance, coming close to winning their first Olympic field hockey gold. “We got Olympic silver, and we were this close to gold,” Annan said, adding she was not surprised by their strong performance.
“Six months ago, a year ago, two years ago, we wouldn’t have thought we’d be here.”
The Netherlands extended their winning streak to 21-0 against China over the past decade, with 15 of those victories by multiple goals.
“It was a very close game,” said coach Paul van Ass, whose son Seve won gold with the men’s team. “Well, we attacked and they defended. But because they got a goal so early, they had the time to defend. And they defended very well.”
Argentina won the bronze medal in women’s field hockey after defeating Belgium in a penalty shootout. This marks their second consecutive medal in field hockey, following a silver in Tokyo when they lost to the Netherlands in the final.
“It’s crazy,” Argentina goalkeeper Cristina Cosentino said. “We’re very happy. We came here to get medals, and we couldn’t go back empty-handed.”
The Netherlands was the only country to win two field hockey medals in Paris. On the men’s side, Germany took silver and India won bronze.
