Belgium won a nerve-wracking shootout to claim gold in the men’s Olympic hockey final here at the Tokyo 2020 (in 2021) Games.
After taking the lead in the 32nd minute through Florent van Aubel, the Belgians were pegged back as Australia levelled in the fourth quarter with a goal from Thomas Whetton to leave the scores 1-1 at full-time.
Belgium’s men’s team had never won an Olympic gold medal, with a silver medal at Rio 2016 and a bronze at Antwerp 1920 their best finishes before today.
After a dramatic shoot-out, the #gold medal winners are…
B E L G I U M !
Congrats to #BEL on their first ever men's #Hockey gold! #StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | @FIH_Hockey pic.twitter.com/umMyvOs6EZ
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
But the 2018 world champions scored three to Australia’s two in the all-important shoot out to pick up the top honours here in Japan.
The shootout was not without its drama, with Belgian goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch stopping three Australian shots and the final Australia penalty having to be re-taken after consultation with the video referee.
However, Belgium prevailed in the end, writing their names into the history books with their first Olympic victory.
Felix Denayer couldn’t hide his happiness after the match, reserving special praise for goalkeeper Vanasch.
“I think I am still dreaming and overwhelmed by emotions,” he said. “But it will really come true when we get it around the neck. It is something we have been waiting for our whole lives. We dreamed about it, we believed we could achieve it, but we knew it was going to be really, really hard.
“This was the second opportunity, we lost five years ago, and now we have got it. Amazing. I am super proud of this team.
“In the end a shoot-out, and we have some crazy, crazy goalie who took it home for us.”
Penalty hero Vanasch praised his teammates who fought so hard to win the Olympic gold.
“It’s history again,” he said. “It was history at the World Cup, at the European Championships and now it’s history at the Olympics. I will cherish that moment for a long time. This team is a dream team.”
