Great Britain were faced with an improbable task ahead of them as they were up against the reigning world champions, Netherlands in the final of the 2016 Olympics. Great Britain would need to find heroes and moments of magic from within their team. This came in the shape of Maggie Hinch.
Hinch, the 27-year-old goalkeeper for Team GB, performed immaculately throughout the game and was the key difference in the final. The match went to a penalty shootout after the scores were level at 3-3 after the four quarters. This is where the pressure was on Hinch to keep out the three-time, Olympic gold Dutch team. Speaking about how her and her teammates feelings were prior to the shootout, Hinch said: “We definitely backed ourselves going into the shootout. I was a bit nervous, and my legs felt heavy, but I was confident as well. It was a great chance for me to do my bit as a goalie. I do enjoy shootouts.”
Out of the four penalties that the Netherlands team had, the no.1 ranked team in the world, could not find an answer against the presence of Hinch in goal, which led to a stunned silence by the Dutch crowd compared to the sheer jubilation from the GB fans. Hinch told us about how she had done her homework about the opposition and, about which way the penalties would be taken. She had done this by writing down key information on her personal notebook. This ended up being the difference between the two teams. “The notebook is purely for the shoot-out. In there I have the players that I think will step up and for each of those players I have a plan of what I will do against them.” Hinch said.
This was Team GB’s first final in the Olympic history, and they were able to claim gold. Hinch was struggling to describe the emotions that she had and simply said: "It does not feel real at all. What a beautiful medal. This is what dreams are made of. What more can I say? Nine million viewers tuned in to watch the heroics and the rest of the GB team.
Hinch will always be associated with this moment of Olympic history, like Usain Bolt’s performance at the Beijing Olympics, Jamaica’s Bobsled team in 88 and Derek Redmond in 92, this moment will be remembered as truly inspirational and monumental in sport.