Hollie Webb: '˜I imagined I was at training'

Olympic champion Hollie Webb has revealed what was going through her mind when she hit the gold medal winning shot in a dramatic women's hockey final.
Great Britain's Hollie Webb celebrates scoring the winning goal in the penalty shootout during the gold medal match at the Olympic Hockey Centre on the fourteenth day of the Rio 2016 Olympics. Picture by PA.Great Britain's Hollie Webb celebrates scoring the winning goal in the penalty shootout during the gold medal match at the Olympic Hockey Centre on the fourteenth day of the Rio 2016 Olympics. Picture by PA.
Great Britain's Hollie Webb celebrates scoring the winning goal in the penalty shootout during the gold medal match at the Olympic Hockey Centre on the fourteenth day of the Rio 2016 Olympics. Picture by PA.

Webb, a former Belper Hockey Club player, steadied her nerves to slot home the decisive goal to give Team GB a 2-0 shoot-out win over the Netherlands.

Webb and her Great Britain team-mates faced a tough task against the defending champions but came through it to claim a first gold for women’s hockey.

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Webb said: “We had done our homework the same as Maddie (Hinch, goalkeeper) and our goalkeepers had given us advice.

INSPIRED by the Olympic Games.INSPIRED by the Olympic Games.
INSPIRED by the Olympic Games.

“I had a plan what I was going to do. I was thinking I was at Bisham Abbey on the training pitch with no one else around.

“From it going in there was nothing in my head. I can’t tell you what went on from there.”

The Dutch were going for a third straight Olympic title but GB had a 100 per cent record going in to the final which they protected in Friday night’s final.

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One of the squad’s goals was to inspire a generation of hockey players and Webb, an Economics Graduate from University of Sheffield, reflected on doing just that.

INSPIRED by the Olympic Games.INSPIRED by the Olympic Games.
INSPIRED by the Olympic Games.

She added: “The best thing isn’t this medal, the best thing is going to be inspiring people back home to pick up a stick.”

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