Britain swept all before them in the pool stages, beating Australia, the United States, Argentina, Japan and India, before knocking out quarter-final opponents Spain and then New Zealand in the last four.
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It was a point echoed by a happy Danny Kerry, Great Britain’s coach. But you can’t forget what’s got us here.
Britain celebrates after winning gold in a women’s field hockey gold medal match against the Netherlands at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 19, 2016.
Great Britain’s next match is the final tomorrow (Friday) at 9pm, live on BBC One.
Skelton, who helped Britain win team gold at London 2012, was one of only two riders to have three clear rounds, and his winning time on Big Star in the jump-off was enough to win the title.
“I remember Helen making her debut for England hockey when she was a student with us back in 1999 and she really has enjoyed a fantastic career”. Disappointing, wasn’t disciplined enough. “Everything that comes before this (Olympics) is just a nice stepping stone”, she said.
Great Britain’s Alex Danson has described reaching the final at the Olympic Games as “unbelievable”.
Anything better than bronze would result in the British women’s best Olympic performance – they also finished third at Barcelona 24 years ago – but Richardson-Walsh is playing a cautious long-game. We believe we can win but we must do our jobs.
After seeing off Spain in the last eight, Britain faced the challenge of New Zealand – ranked fourth in the world – in the semi-finals. Crista Cullen stung the palms of Maria Lopez in the Spain goal with an early penalty corner before Sophie Bray’s deflection flew just over the bar.
Britain came out strong in the second quarter and took the lead when Danson picked up the rebound from Whitelock after a penalty corner and found the net in the 21st minute.
Twigg fell to the ground after the ball deflected off a New Zealand stick and caught her flush in the face, and she left the pitch for further assessment.
However, a couple of smart saves from British shot-stopper Maddie Hinch and penalty corner flicked high and wide by Anita McLaren meant it remained 1-0 as the teams went to the main break.
Helen Richardson-Walsh, who said she would also probably retire from global hockey, said she had targeted Olympic gold through a rollercoaster career.
“There are players who will never play for Australia again and when you put one match [the quarter-final defeat to the Netherlands] to the side, it’s been a pretty unbelievable run for this group”.
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Lily Owsley said Britain had trained hard to get where they had and had their eyes set on gold.
