Hockey player speaks out on ‘most disrespectful experience in sport’ after it caused Olympic brawl to break out
The German hockey player who was 'trolled' after losing the Olympic gold medal match has opened up about the 'disrespectful' moment.
Goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg was shushed by the Netherlands' Duco Telgenkamp after a 3-1 win in the shootout of the men's field hockey final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Final scorer Telgenkamp rushed over to the goalie at full-time and shushed him before swiping his helmet.
Apparently this was a response to Danneberg's pre-match suggestion that the Netherlands were 'afraid' of Germany.
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The incident quickly turned into a brawl after German players were left furious and had to be restrained by Telgenkamp's teammates from getting to the young Dutchman.
Addressing what went on, Danneberg said: "That was the most disrespectful thing I have ever experienced in sport.
"I don't know how someone can be such a bad winner.
"It is the best moment of his life and he is booed for it at the awards ceremony."
Telgenkamp has since apologised, admitting he took Danneberg's comments 'personally' before the game.
"There were articles and we took them personally. After that it became very emotional," the hockey player said.
"What I did was not nice. I am sorry for the way I acted.
"Again, emotions came up at the end.
"But it is what it is, we won. I would have apologised if I had seen him."
“In hindsight, I shouldn’t have gone to him. I regret that. I also apologise,” Telgenkamp 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?”
After it all kicked off, viewers had a thing or two to say on social media, as one person tweeted: "A very very bad unsportmanship by the Dutch players. This is completely not in the Olympic spirit. If you win you can't tease the losing team. Very bad behaviour by the Dutch players."
A second penned: "@Olympics @Paris2024 If you want to make a change in the sport world, deny Duco #Telgenkamp the gold medal for being the worst winner possible. Unsportsmanship should be taken into account!"
A very very bad unsportmanshipby the Dutch players
— Brisbane '32' (@namanruhela13) August 8, 2024
This is completely not in the Olympic spirit.
If you win you can't tease the losing team
Very bad behaviour by the Dutch players
They won the gold medal 🥇 by beating Germany in shoot off#Hockey #Paris2024 #ParisOlympics2024 pic.twitter.com/2p1a9RlcmN
On the win itself, Dutch coach Jeroen Delmee said: “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 (World Cup 2023, Paris 2024) and won major knockout games.”
Anish Vij