Today sees Team GB women’s hockey, featuring former Loughborough College student Nicola White, go for their first ever gold in their first ever Olympic final.
Unbeaten so far in the Rio 2016 women’s tournament with seven wins, the squad’s final spot against the Netherlands already guarantees them an upgrade on their London 2012 bronze – while the Dutch, who are world number one, are hoping to complete a hat-trick of consecutive Olympic titles.
White helped the team to their historic place in the final when the side beat New Zealand 3-0 in the semi-final.
“I am still in shock. This is the dream to get to an Olympic final and you could not ask for anything more. And what a milestone to be the first Great Britain team to get to a final.
“It’s unbelievable. This is what we have trained for every day for. I was excited four years ago when we won bronze in London, but this is a completely different level to be playing for gold,” said the former Loughborough College Sport degree student.
“It was hard against New Zealand and we had to ride it out as we had some difficult patches and put in a big shift defensively.
“They are so good counter attacking, quick and skilful. We had to bide our time and we got breaks and took them.
“One more game and one more win and everyone is buzzing and the vibe is, keep going. We have got to do it and take our chance.
“What an exciting team we have. Our mindset has been really good because we came into the tournament not in the best of form.
“We have just focused on one game at a time and not got ahead of ourselves and that is the best thing. We have really put the work in and now we are one game away from winning the gold medal.”
Head Coach Danny Kerry said: “Holland in the final – they’ve probably got a bit of a point to prove after the England team and the Europeans.
“I think it will be a tight, cagey affair. They have some talented players and they will probably start as red-hot favourites but we like it that way.
“We lost a very tight semi-final to Argentina four years ago [at London 2012]. We’ve adapted some of our training to replicate some of the thinking needed in tight games and we’ve learned some lessons.”
Pictured: Former Loughborough College student Nicola White in action (Simon Parker)