Dutch player Floris Middendorp moved to prevent Wellen from reaching Telgenkamp, with the latter continuing to taunt his opposition by sticking his tongue out.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
And as a scuffle broke out between both sides, officials were eventually forced to step in to curtail the pushing and shoving.
Duco Telgenkamp of Holland, Floris Middendorp of Holland, fights with Niklas Wellen of Germany after a provocation from Duco Telgenkamp
A scuffle broke out at full-time
Players argue after the men’s final field hockey match between Germany and the Netherlands during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Officials eventually had to step in (Picture: Getty)
In the aftermath of the incident, Telgenkamp apologised for his celebration, which was brought on by Danneberg’s pre-match comments, in which he claimed the Dutch were afraid of his German side.
‘In hindsight, I shouldn’t have gone to him. I regret that. I also apologise,’ he said. ‘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.’
German forward Christopher Ruhr, meanwhile, suggested his team deserved to win the match and labelled the Dutch ‘lucky’ in 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,’ Ruhr said.
‘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.‘
