Netherlands beats Germany for men's field hockey gold at the Paris Olympics

COLOMBES, France (AP) — The Netherlands won gold in men's field hockey at the Paris Olympics after beating Germany 2-1 in a shootout on Friday night in a final that was delayed briefly when a sprinkler inexplicably came on early in the second half.

Then a scuffle interrupted the postgame celebrations.

Captain Thierry Brinkman, Thijs van Dam and Duco Telgenkamp scored in the shootout. Dutch players piled on each other to celebrate, Germany's Niklas Wellen took exception to Telgenkamp pumping his chest, ran over and began shoving him, leading officials to separate the teams.

The tensions were much different than nearly an hour earlier when water began spraying the sideline and field 3:28 into the third quarter. Workers ran over to stop the shower, and the crowd at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium cheered when the water went off after about two minutes.

Perhaps that is all the game needed to go from a scoreless, defensive struggle to a thriller with a dramatic finish.

Seconds into the fourth quarter, Brinkman gave the Netherlands a 1-0 lead on a tap-in after Koen Bijen sprinted between defenders to create the goal. Another goal nearly followed, but Germany defender Gonzalo Peillat got his stick on the ball in mid-air just before it reached the net.

Instead of falling behind by two, Thies Prinz tied it for Germany 3:20 after Brinkman scored, beating Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak clean off a penalty corner.

The Netherlands had an excellent chance at scoring with 56.1 seconds left on a penalty corner, but Jip Janssen fired wide left of the goal.

With the score tied after regulation, the game went to a shootout with each team getting five 8-second chances to score. Blaak actually had to stop one Germany player twice because of a re-do, then Telgenkamp's golden goal set off a party on the field and among the many fans in orange in the stands.

It’s the first men’s field hockey title for the Netherlands at the Olympics since 2000 and third in the country’s history. The women’s team goes for the sweep Friday night against China.

No country has swept field hockey gold medals since the women's tournament was added to the Games in 1980.

India got bronze in men's field hockey for a second consecutive Olympics after beating Spain 2-1 earlier Thursday. Before Tokyo in 2021, India had not won a medal in the sport since 1980.

“We create history again,” captain and game-winning goal-scorer Harmanpreet Singh said. “It’s a big day for India and a big day for hockey.”

Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh confirmed afterward he was retiring at age 36.

“Everyone is asking me, ‘Why now?'” he said. "One piece of advice I got in my career is that when you retire people should not say, ‘Why not?' They should ask you, ‘Why?’ This is the right time to take that course.”

___

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games