‘I regret that’ – Hockey player sparks mass brawl with ‘unnecessary’ gesture after Olympics final

A mass brawl broke out after the men’s Olympic hockey final between Netherlands and Germany.

The match had to be decided by a shootout for the gold medal after it ended 1-1 in regulation time in Paris.

The Dutch player sparked a mass brawl with the gesture
AFP
It was an unsavoury end to an incredible event
AFP

Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak made a series of saves before Duco Telgenkamp fired home the winner past Germany’s Jean-Paul Danneberg.

Telgenkamp then rushed straight to the German keeper and performed a shushing gesture in his face, before appearing to slap his helmet.

Some of the German players were furious as they raced to confront the Dutch player amid all the celebrations.

There were boos from the crowd and the TV commentator for the match labelled the gesture ‘unnecessary’.

Netherlands’ Floris Middendorp had to prevent Niklas Wellen from getting to Telgenkamp, with the latter continuing to provoke by sticking out his tongue.

It overshadowed what should have been a joyous moment for the Netherlands team and Telgenkamp later apologised.

“In hindsight, I shouldn’t have gone to him. I regret that. I also apologise,” he said.

“I should have let it go and it wasn’t very smart.

“But it’s also a bit the nature of the beast. I can be very cool-headed, but I can also let myself go. Is that part of it?

“He affected me personally. Sports are not business, it doesn’t take much to be provoked. That’s how I go into the match. I felt a bit offended.”

Meanwhile, Germany’s Christopher Ruhr felt the Netherlands team were ‘lucky’ to walk away with the gold medal.

The German players were understandably furious
Getty
It sparked a huge brawl with multiple players involved
Getty

“We deserved to win the gold medal. It was an incredibly close match that came down to the shoot-out,” Ruhr said.

“The Dutch team had the luck today, but our overall performance was strong.

“I think it is phenomenal that we made it to two finals at major sports events and won major knockout games.”


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https://talksport.com/olympics/2002477/hockey-mass-brawl-olympics-germany-netherlands/

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