Olympics: Gold for women's hockey; bronze for BMX

Friday 10 August 2012

The Dutch women's hockey team retained their Olympic title with a 2-0 win over Argentina at the Riverbank Arena on Friday evening, following a bronze medal for Laura Smulders in the BMX final earlier in the day.

After an unpromising start to their campaign to defend the title they won in Beijing four years ago, the Dutch ran rings around the Argentinians on the hockey pitch. Once the second goal went in during the second half, the team from Argentina seemed to give up the fight.

The women, seven of whom were in the team in Beijing, won all their matches at this Olympics despite playing below their best in the early stages. For the final, however, they pulled out all the stops and their spirited play was too much for the Argentinians.

Great Britain took the bronze after a play-off against New Zealand.

BMX

The 18-year-old Laura Smulders was the surprise winner of the bronze medal in the BMX cyling final. She had struggled to qualify for the final, but made a fast start and managed to hang on to third place in a hard-fought race.

Colombia won the gold medal with New Zealand taking silver.

The Netherlands is 11th in the medals table with six gold, five silver and eight bronze.

© DutchNews.nl