At the 20016 Olympics, Great Britain finished second with 27 gold medals. Only one of those gold medals came through a team sport. Women hockey brought GB’s first Olympic team gold since 1988, also won in hockey (men). What made it more special was the fact that it was GB women hockey team’s first ever appearance at an Olympic final. The previous best were two bronze in the quadrennial extravaganza.
The campaign had many stars but in the final one girl stood out. Great Britain faced two-time defending champions and top seeded Netherlands. Both had finished at the top of their pools. Still, going into the final, the Dutch were most people’s favourites as they hadn’t lost in the Olympics since the 2004 Olympics final.
In Netherlands, hockey is second to football in popularity and glamour. Add to it the pedigree of the Dutch team. It was no surprise to see the stadium carpeted in orange by the singing, drum beating and horn-blowing Dutch supporters. Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princess Ariane were also in attendance at the Rio’s Deodoro Park.
Great Britain was gripped by a hockey fever. The BBC delayed its 10 o’clock bulletin. Reportedly, nine million people in the country remained glued to the TV sets that Friday evening.
The Dutch began in a stormy fashion and within the first six minutes created the best possible opportunity -- a penalty stroke. Up stepped their captain Maartje Paumen, the overall top scorer in Olympics and twice FIH player of the year. But GB goalkeeper Maddie Hinch stopped her hit. Within three minutes, Great Britain went ahead. Despite the double setback, the Netherlands continued to dominate for large periods. They equalised and then twice took the lead. GB managed to draw level each time and it was 3-3 when the regulation time ended.
It was the heroics of Maddy Hinch that kept the team Great Britain in contention as she repelled attack after attack. The stats vindicate: Dutch won eight penalty corners to two and had 17 shots on the goal to seven.
In the penalty shootout, with Hinch at her best, the Dutch couldn’t score even once on any of the four attempts and when Webb scored GB’s second off the fourth, the whole of Britain was ecstatic. The Daily Telegraph wrote: "This was the country’s 24th gold of the Games, but there was never one more rapturously received."
What impact did Hinch have on the tie? No need to go further than the post final statements of the two coaches. Netherlands coach Alyson Annan said her team dominated the whole game. "Tactically, we were strong. Technically, we were strong. Physically, mentally, we were the better team."
GB coach Danny Kerry said: "We have probably the best goalkeeper in the world." Nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’ for her audacious goalkeeping, Hinch is no stranger to late heroics. Last year, in London, England won the Euro Hockey Nations only the second time and for the first time since 1991. There too, it was Netherlands in the final and the match was decided in penalty shootout.
England had their safety insurance under the bar in Hinch. She saved three, and the hosts won the shoot-
out 3-1.
At school, Hinch played rounders. Seeing her diving and catching talents, the sports teacher sent her home with a set of pads. At first, the 12 years old Hinch didn’t feel comfortable. "They’re smelly, sweaty, you don’t get to run around and you walk a bit funny," she said.
However, she soon began to like the role. "As a kid I was sports mad, always running around the garden, climbing trees and then falling out of them. Goalkeeping involves a lot of that."
Initially, she struggled to get picked regularly on county and national level: "I was different because I was smaller and a bit more dramatic. Other goalies used to just stand there or were quite a lot bigger than me," Hinch said.
Though she had made her full international debut in 2008, Hinch wasn’t considered for the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Olympics. She first saw international glory at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she was the number one net minder and helped England win the silver medal.
The spectacular performance in the 2015 Euro Nations final earned her nomination for the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year.
For those of us who think shootouts are a lottery, just read Hinch’s words. "I give myself a game plan for each player and execute that. It is all in the notebook. I am constantly keeping my database up to date. Thankfully the Dutch did what I thought they would do. It also helped that the Dutch had a shootout in their semi-final. But we have a huge amount of data and I can go back years and look at details of one player, what she has done every time. I narrowed it to one plan for each player."
Her club career has run parallel with her international show. Beginning with the Exmouth, she moved to Leicester, who have been English hockey’s league champions quite a few times.
Later, she joined Holcombe, whose millionaire chairman David Smith has attracted a raft of internationals with lucrative contracts over the last couple of years.
The 2016-17 season will see the star of the 2016 Olympics plying her trade with the Dutch club SCHC in the most competitive and richest women hockey league of the world.
Immediately after the final, Gary Lineker, former England football player (the country’s all-time top scorer at FIFA World Cup), said: "Maddie Hinch, you are a super star."
Stuart Broad, England’s premier fast bowler and captain of the Twenty20 team, said: "It wouldn’t surprise you to know that Maddie Hinch saved this one."
Michael Vaughan, England’s Ashes winning cricket captain, said: "I want Maddie Hinch as our prime minister."
Well, she is already the "Queen" of the British Hockey.
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