Goalkeeper Maddie Hinch played the starring role for the British team, pulling off four saves in the shoot-out.
Advertisement
“We definitely back ourselves in the shootout”. Goalkeeping has its highs and lows. To win an Olympic medal is special, to win an Olympic medal with your wife standing next to you, taking the penalty in the pressure moments is so special.
The head coach, Danny Kelly, said the team had targeted Olympic gold two years ago, when he convinced a core of senior England players to stay on after the disappointment of losing in the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games.
And they will want to emulate the most famous team British hockey has seen by winning gold, albeit against a Dutch side seeking a hat-trick of Olympic titles.
Hinch along with both Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh will all be playing their club hockey in Holland next season – they should not anticipate too warm a reception!
The most feeling I think is relief. But you can’t forget what’s got us here. We are always talking about finding a way to win and that’s what we did.
And we wish them the best of luck in tonight’s final. “It was surreal. Some days you just know you are going to win. We really put the legwork in to try and get them on the counter and get up the pitch”.
Helen Richardson-Walsh converted a penalty flick after Georgie Twigg was fouled and Webb kept her cool to net the decisive effort after Hinch had time and again denied the Dutch.
Lisa Altenburg, who was responsible for missing one of Germany’s four shoot-out attempts, said: “My penalty shot wasn’t that good, so in the end it’s shit”.
“We defended well and then changed our tactics and it paid off”.
“Eight of the group are multiple Olympians and we needed that experience today”.
It was also significant for boasting the first same-sex married couple to win a gold.
Her grandmother Eva Nullis – a former hockey player herself, who first got to see McCallin play on the worldwide stage when she won gold with England in last year’s European Championship in London – led the messages of support, which also featured neighbours, friends, former schoolmates and babysitters.
Britain have struggled so far in the athletics arena but there was a bronze medal to celebrate on Friday thanks to the women’s 4x100m relay quartet.
The 58-year-old won individual show jumping gold to become the second oldest gold medalist behind Joshua Millner, who won shooting gold in 1908 at the age of 61.
Advertisement
She is a London 2012 bronze medallist who has since fought back from two serious back injuries to claim her place in GB’s Rio squad.
