Netherlands Wins Both Golds in Olympic Hockey for Women

Just 24 hours after the men's team defeated Germany, the Netherlands' women's team, the reigning champions, defeated China 3-1 in a shootout to win gold on Friday, capping a historic double in Olympic hockey. The Chinese held the Dutch women to a 1-1 tie during regulation time, forcing them to battle hard for their fifth Olympic gold medal. The Dutch ladies were competing in their sixth consecutive final. After just six minutes, Chen Yi gave the Chinese the lead, and despite constant Dutch pressure, it looked like they were going to win their first Olympic gold.

But Yibbi Jansen, the tournament's top penalty corner shooter, tied the score nine minutes remaining with a goal of her own.

The jubilation for the throngs of Dutch spectators at the Yves du Manoir Stadium in Colombes started when Dutch goaltender Anne Veenendaal stopped the first two Chinese attempts in the shoot-out.

Paul van Ass, the Dutch coach, commented, "It was fantastic."

"The Chinese performed admirably, which enabled them to score a good goal fast.

"It was challenging to penetrate their defense. The only thing that didn't work was getting penalty corners, even though we attacked brilliantly."

With the men's team also needing a shootout to defeat Germany, this is the first time ever that a country has doubled up in Olympic hockey.
It was China's second silver medal after their 2008 home victory in Beijing.

Six months, a year, or two years ago, we never would have imagined ourselves in this situation. Their Australian coach, Alyson Annan, who guided the Dutch to Olympic triumph in Tokyo before departing under contentious circumstances in 2022, remarked, "This is just amazing."

"I believed we could pull this off. I believed we could prevail. They managed to take the corner. You can get lucky sometimes.

"We exerted every effort possible. Simply put, they performed better in today's shootout."

With victories in all of their group matches—including a 3-0 triumph over the Chinese—and semifinal victories over Argentina and Great Britain, the Dutch entered the match with the wind in their sails.

The reigning winners appeared to be the clear favorites to win  that form all the way to the podium.