A crazy brawl broke out between The Netherlands and Germany men’s field hockey teams following the gold medal goal at the 2024 Olympics.
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Duco Telgenkamp, the Dutch player who scored the winning goal, ended the tie-breaker shootout at 3-1. However, instead of handling the win with good sportsmanship, Telgenkamp rubbed it in the German goalkeeper Jean-aul Danneberg’s face. He did this by walking up and making a “shushing” gesture at Danneberg.
The gesture didn’t go unnoticed. Members of the German team quickly called out Telgenkamp for his behavior. It didn’t take long for things to get physical. The incident was caught on camera. Telgenkamp was even seen putting his hand on German star Wellen’s throat.
Telgenkamp’s gesture may have been a clapback towards Danneberg over his comments before the Olympics’ field hockey match and post-game brawl.
“The Dutch players need a very good day to score four goals against us,” the German keeper told reporters. “So I think we have a mountain, and they will have big problems to climb us… The Dutch are really scared.”
Telgenkamp did apologize for his behavior. “In hindsight, I shouldn’t have gone to him,” he said. “I regret that. I also apologize.”
He added, “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.”
Internet Reacts to Field Hockey Brawl at 2024 Olympics
Just after the video of the field hockey brawl began to circulate, many people shared their thoughts about the unsportsmanlike behavior displayed by the Dutch player.
“A very very bad unsportsmanship by the Dutch player,” one person wrote on X. “This is completely not the Olympic spirit. If you win you can’t tease the losing team. Very bad behavior by the Dutch players. They won the gold medal by beating Germany in a shoot off.”
Another X user then shared, “Apologies from a lot of Dutchies. Apparently mocking an enemy player is more important than celebrating.”
Others justified the behavior by calling out the goalkeeper’s pre-game remarks. “I’m German and I think it’s bull—. Our goalkeeper said pre-game they are afraid. He poked the bear and it’s all on him.”
Both of the Netherlands’ men’s and women’s field hockey teams took home the gold medal at this year’s Olympics. The men’s team last won the gold medal during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney Australia.
German forward Christopher Ruhr pointed out the Dutch players are “lucky” to be walking away with the gold medal. “We deserved to win the gold medal. it was an incredibly close match that came down to the shoot-out.”
“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.”