The significance of facing the host nation on the opening day of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in front of a packed Yves-du-Manoir Hockey Stadium was not lost on Germany captain Mats Grambusch.
While the world champions and four times Olympic gold medallists were clear favourites, the electric atmosphere created by the home crowd, particularly during the anthems, ensured that Die Honamas felt a tingle of nervous excitement.
Those tensions eased less than a minute into the match when Justus Weigand scored from close range. Germany never looked back from that point, producing a devastating display to run out 8-2 winners against the valiant hosts.
“It was the best start we could have got, scoring after 30 seconds or something like that”, said Grambusch, a bronze medal winner at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. “It gave us a chance to breathe because the energy in the stadium was just incredible.”
Germany were ruthless in front of goal, with Weigand and Niklas Wellen both scoring doubles alongside contributions from Thies Prinz and a goal each for Grambusch and his younger brother Tom. Despite Germany’s dominance and intermittent rain, the atmosphere in the stadium remained magnificent throughout. Grambusch described it as “crazy”, before adding that it was “kind of the reason you play hockey, to experience moments like this.”
Commenting on his goal, the team-focussed captain said: “If you know me you know that scoring is not the most important thing for me. Don’t get me wrong, it is also nice to score, especially at an Olympics, but I would have been just as happy winning 8-2 and not scoring.”
The result gave Germany the ideal start to their Olympic campaign, but Grambusch was cautious not to get too carried away with the result.
“We are aiming to top the pool of course, but today is just one day. Everything went our way today, but we know there will be some big challenges in the pool stage. Playing Spain tomorrow (Sunday 27 July) will be a different challenge. I know they lost 4-0 today, but I thought they had a very strong first half, and were actually playing a little better than Great Britain, even when they were 2-0 down. If we underestimate them it is going to go the wrong way.”
The hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 take place from Saturday 27 July to Friday 9 August. Both the men’s and women’s competitions feature 12 teams, split into two pools of six ahead of quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches. For more information about the hockey competitions at Paris 2024, visit Olympics.Hockey.
