In front of an orange sea of 7,000 Dutch spectators, Germany upset the Netherlands 2-1 on Thursday to claim its first women's Olympic field hockey gold medal.
Germany, ranked just seventh in the world, overcame the odds and the tournament's top-scorers to collect its first medal since winning silver in 1992 in Barcelona.
"I still don't realize what we've done," German forward Silke Mueller said. "We never imagined we'd get so far."
Franziska Gude gave Germany what would be the winner with a field goal in the 20th minute, in the first all-European final since 1992.
The Dutch women, ranked third and also European champions, had been seeking their first gold in 20 years, after claiming bronze in Sydney and Atlanta.
"We are angry with ourselves and everything," said Dutch defender Ageeth Boomgaardt. "We came so close to the gold medal but we got scared. We had many opportunities but we were afraid in the last effort to score. In the interval our coach was very upset with us."
The Germans made the most of their scoring chances and then effectively defended against wave after wave of Dutch pressure to emerge the winners.
The Germans got off to a strong start when Anke Kuehn opened the scoring in the sixth minute converting a penalty corner with a mighty flick to the bottom right of the net. Gude picked up a loose ball in the circle to score 14 minutes later to put Germany ahead 2-0. It proved to be was a key lead with the Netherlands clawed their way back to within one when Maartje Scheepstra scored on a penalty corner in the 38th minute.
The Germans held their nerve, resisting everything the increasingly desperate Dutch could throw at them until the very end.
"The girls are sad. They are confused because they played so well," said Dutch coach Marc Lammers. "We are not happy with the silver. Maybe tomorrow we will be. But we lost the gold medal."
It marked the first time Germany reached the medal playoff since 1992. Two of Germany's players, Heike Laezsch and Nadine Ernstring-Krienke, were on the team that won silver in Barcelona.
"Now we are the best," Laezsch said.
Earlier, Luciana Paula Aymar scored with less than a minute remaining to lift Argentina to a 1-0 victory over sleeping giants China in the bronze medal match.
It marked a second successive Olympic medal for the Argentine women, who won silver in Sydney.
"Only two minutes remained. We had to win," Aymar said. "I tried very hard and was able to score but the whole team put in a lot of effort."
China, ranked fourth in the world, were seeking their first Olympic medal in the sport. However, it still marked an improvement on China's previous best Olympic performance, a fifth-place finish in Sydney.
The Chinese had entered the match slightly favored following their 3-2 victory over Argentina in preliminary round play, and having remained unbeaten in regulation time until the bronze medal match.
Just as the game seemed headed into overtime, Aymar received a pass at the top of the circle, dodged a challenge by Zhou Wanfeng and rocketed a rising shot into the top left hand corner of the net.
Kim appeared to protest the goal, waving his hands at officials, but later backed down.
World champions and currently ranked world No. 1, Argentina's women have never won Olympic gold.
Earlier in the day, two-time defending champion Australia defeated New Zealand 3-0 in the fifth-place match in women's field hockey, matching their worst finish at an Olympics.
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