Olympic champion Telgenkamp is looking for hockey gold
The Netherlands defeat Germany in a dramatic hockey final in Paris. However, all that's talked about afterwards is an Olympian losing their cool. Heated arguments ensue, and he later regrets his behavior.
Dutch hockey national team player Duco Telgenkamp regrets his outburst after winning the Olympics against Germany. "I shouldn't have done that, it was just the emotions," said the 22-year-old. "It wasn't smart of me to go back to the goalkeeper. I mean, we won, and then I shouldn't have let myself get carried away like that."
After the final, Telgenkamp stood in front of German goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg and put his finger to his lips. He then touched the keeper's helmet. In response, German forward Niklas Wellen ran towards the forming Dutch celebration to confront Telgenkamp, leading to heated arguments.
Criticism also came from Dutch national coach Jeroen Delmee. "Emotions are part of the game, but he still needs to get used to a few rules of international hockey, he's still very young," said Delmee: "You should never touch another player, unfortunately, the emotions got the better of him." According to the coach, Danneberg's statements in the media were the trigger for Telgenkamp's mistake.
"That will stay"
Telgenkamp confirmed this: "It personally bothered me that Danneberg said we were afraid of them." Literally, the German keeper had said before the final: "We're going in there with a really broad chest, because I think the Dutch are really afraid of us." After the final whistle, Danneberg also condemned Telgenkamp's action. "It seems like quite a few fuses have blown. My sincere condolences for such unsportsmanlike behavior," said the 21-year-old: "The fans booed him when he got the medal. There's no bigger shame than that."
"I find it a bit questionable. If you win gold, you'd go to your guys and celebrate," said Tom Grambusch. "There were a couple of comments before that weren't bad, they're part of it. That it escalated like this is unfortunate." The Germans don't seem interested in a clarifying conversation with the Dutch: "That will stay."
Head coach André Henning, however, doesn't believe that the heated dispute after the dramatic Olympic final will permanently strain the relationship between the German and Dutch hockey national teams: "We'll also be able to put that behind us and forgive the Dutch. We also congratulated them."
Despite the heated argument, Duco Telgenkamp and the Dutch hockey team still celebrate their hard-earned 'Hockey gold' at the Olympics. However, the discussion about the incident between Telgenkamp and German goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg continues, with Telgenkamp acknowledging the impact of Danneberg's pre-match comments.
