Netherlands Secure Olympic Hockey Double With Women's Gold

The Netherlands completed a remarkable double in Olympic hockey on Friday when their women's team, the defending champions, beat China 3-1 in a shootout to take gold just 24 hours after the men's side had triumphed over Germany. The Dutch women, who were appearing in their sixth successive final, were made to work hard for their fifth Olympic gold medal after the Chinese held them to a 1-1 draw in regulation time. Chen Yi put the Chinese ahead after just six minutes and in spite of intense Dutch pressure throughout they appeared to be heading for their first Olympic gold.

Nine minutes from time, however, ace penalty corner shooter Yibbi Jansen rifled in her ninth goal of the tournament to level the scores.

Dutch goalie Anne Veenendaal saved the first two Chinese efforts in the shoot-out and when she kept out Ma Ning's attempt as well the celebrations began for the army of Dutch supporters at the Yves du Manoir Stadium in Colombes.

"It was fantastic," said Dutch coach Paul van Ass.

"The Chinese did very well, it helped them scoring a nice goal quickly.

"It was hard to break down their defence. We attacked well, the only thing didn't work was gaining penalty corners."

It is the first time ever that a nation has doubled up at the Olympic hockey - the men's team also needing a shootout to get past Germany.

It marked China's second silver medal, following their success at home in Beijing in 2008.

"Six months ago, a year ago, two years ago, we wouldn't have thought we'd be here. This is just amazing," said their Australian coach Alyson Annan who led the Dutch to Olympic success in Tokyo before leaving in controversial circumstances in 2022.

"I thought we were capable of this. I thought that we could win. They got the corner.