Paris 2024 hockey: Breakdown, highlights, stats and top performers for 5 August
Picture by Luke Hales/Getty Images
5 August brought another day of exciting victories and devastating heartbreak at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium, as the women’s hockey quarter-finals came to an end with only four teams remaining on the road to Olympic gold.
Tokyo 2020 gold and silver medallists, Netherlands and Argentina, both pulled off wins to advance to the semi-finals for a shot at landing back on the podium, but bronze medallists Great Britain were defeated by the reigning champions, forcing them to bid farewell to the competition in Paris.
People’s Republic of China staged a major upset over Australia, with keeper Ye Jiao on fire, denying 13 shots by the Hockeyroos to eliminate them in the first match of the day.
They progress to the semi-finals and face Belgium on Wednesday, 7 August, while Netherlands and Argentina face off to start the day of play.
Fans of Team Spain show their support during the women's quarter-final match against Belgium
Game of the day: Argentina’s overtime victory
Down 1-0 with three minutes remaining, Argentina’s women knew they would have to pull off something special if they wanted to keep their Olympic dreams alive.
It wasn’t until the 57th minute that Germany scored against them, so with just one minute left of play, Argentina’s Julieta Jankunas answered the call and sunk a penalty corner goal to tie up the score 1-1 and send the teams into overtime.
With a miss and a saved shot from Germany kicking off the shoot-out competition, Argentina’s Jankunas stepped up to the plate and kept Argentina in the game, once again, bringing the overtime score to 1-0, before Zoe Diaz put the icing on the cake with another goal as the the Leonas officially secured their spot in the semi-finals.
“We say it, we’re Argentina and we have to suffer to arrive. We’re really happy because we gave everything from the beginning. We knew what we had to do, we trusted that, we trusted the coaches, the coaches trusted us,” said 20-year-old Lara Casas.
They will now face reigning Olympic champions Netherlands in the semi-final on 7 August.
Argentina celebrates their victory over Germany in the penalty shoot-out in the women's quarter-final
Player of the day: Ye Jiao
In the quarter-final against Australia, People’s Republic of China’s goalkeeper Ye kept her team’s dreams alive with 13 shots saved, having only conceded two for a final score of 3-2.
Before tonight, Australia went through the entire tournament undefeated, but could not get past Ye in time to tie up the score and send the teams into an overtime shoot-out.
In the history of hockey at the Games, the People’s Republic of China have only landed on the podium once, and it was at home in Beijing when the women took the silver medal after being defeated by the Netherlands in 2008.
“From the start, we were very determined to win,” said Ye’s teammate Dan Wen. “We feel the team are getting better and better.”
If both teams win in the semi-finals, a rematch would be staged nearly 20 years later in Paris.
Hockey results for 5 August
Women’s quarter-final 1
People's Republic of China beats Australia, 3-2
Women’s quarter-final 2
Argentina beats Germany in overtime shoot-out, 1(2)-1(0)
Women’s quarter-final 3
Netherlands beats Great Britain, 3-1
Women’s quarter-final 4
Belgium beats Spain, 2-0
Hockey schedule for 6 August
All times CET:
2 p.m. Men’s semi-final: Netherlands vs. Spain
7 p.m. Men’s semi-final: Germany vs. India
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