Germany remains silver in the dramatic shootout
The Men's Hockey National Team Wins Olympic Silver. In a dramatic shoot-out after regular time, the Netherlands decides the final in Paris for themselves. The Germans are brutally stopped just short of their big goal.
Drama in the shootout, the fight for gold is lost: The German men's hockey team was brutally stopped just short of their big goal in a thrilling final at the Olympics. The world champions lost to the Netherlands 1:3 in a penalty shootout in a rematch of the 2012 Olympic final. In London, Germany had crowned themselves champions 12 years ago - in Paris, the DHB team failed on the last meters, settling for silver.
1:1 (0:0) it stood after 60 intense minutes. Thies Prinz (50.) equalized for the selection of the German Hockey Federation (DHB) after Thierry Brinkman (46.) had brought the Netherlands into the lead. In the shootout, Jean-Paul Danneberg then saved two attempts, but only Justus Weigand scored for the German team.
This dashed the hopes of a fifth German Olympic gold after 1972, 1992, 2008, and 2012. Nevertheless, Germany is returning home with a medal after finishing fourth in Tokyo 2021.
Orange has the stronger nerves
The first medal since bronze in 2016 in Rio was already secured for the selection of the German Hockey Federation (DHB) with the final entry in Paris, but captain Mats Grambusch and co. pursued the maximum goal from the start. Having silver "feels incredibly great," the 31-year-old said, "but we want gold." Germany had already underlined its high ambitions with six wins from seven games, including a victory over the Netherlands in the preliminary round (1:0).
In front of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and DOSB President Thomas Weikert, who were among the approximately 15,000 spectators, the team of national coach André Henning was present from the start in the two-on-one battles. An intense game on equal terms developed, in which both teams gave little away.
Germany found few openings, Christopher Rühr finally took the initiative. The striker was, however, brought down, and the subsequent penalty corner did not yield a goal for the DHB team (25.).
Even after the break, the teams neutralized each other for long stretches, Danneberg initially showed himself to be alert in goal. On the other side, Niklas Wellen also failed against the Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak (42.). So it remained scoreless going into the final quarter, then the Netherlands went into the lead. Prinz brought the DHB team back into the game with a well-placed shot after a seemingly botched penalty corner - but in the shootout, Orange showed stronger nerves.
Despite their valiant effort, Germany falls short in the Olympic Games 2024 final, settling for silver once again. The Men's Hockey National Team met their match in the Netherlands, who displayed stronger nerves during the tense shootout.
The Olympic Games 2024 in Paris witnessed another exciting duel between Germany and the Netherlands in men's hockey, with the Dutch team eventually emerging victorious in the thrilling shootout.
