The women’s hockey team took the seventh Dutch gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on Friday with a 2-0 win over host country China.

In a spectacular final, the women coached by Marc Lammers, came under pressure in the first half, but dominated the second.
Two goals by Naomi van As and Maartje Goderie in the second half secured the win. It was the first game that penalty corner specialist Maartje Paumen (Olympic top scorer with 11 goals) did not score.
The Netherlands won no other medals on Friday. In BMX cycling, which saw its Olympic debut this year, only Robert van den Wildenberg reached the final, in which he finished fifth.
Friday was dominated by the Dutch newspapers celebrating ‘golden Thursday’ on which long distance swimmer Maarten van der Weijden and the water polo women’s team secured gold medals.
As the last day before Sunday’s closing ceremony sets in, the Netherlands has secured a respectable tenth place in the medal tally with 16 medals – 7 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze. It is unlikely that more Dutch medals will be added to the list.