Saturday 3 August will be a day that Great Britain’s Sarah Robertson will long remember, although not necessarily for the result of their final pool match here at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2024.
Robertson’s side fell to a 3-0 defeat against in-form Argentina, who despite winning four and drawing one of their five Pool B matches, finished second behind Australia due to the Hockeyroos have a marginally superior goal difference. The defeat came on Robertson’s 100 appearance in Great Britain colours, having also represented her native Scotland 146 times.
To mark the occasion, Robertson was presented with a bouquet of flowers by one of Scotland’s greatest ever sportspeople, with tennis legend Sir Andy Murray – who had been watching the match in the stands with his hockey playing daughter – waiting at the end of a guard of honour from the GB players.
“We had Scottish and British royalty here today”, said Robertson, referring to the man who won two Olympic gold medals for Great Britain as well as three Grand Slams at Wimbledon, twice, and the US Open. “We did a nice tunnel at the end and I didn’t even realise (he was there) until I got to the end. Andy came down to the pitch and gave me the flowers. It was a lovely moment. It’s a special day, despite the scoreline.””
“We’ve seen him around the (Olympic) Village and as the GB hockey team, we are big fans of Andy”, continued Robertson. “We’ve been watching all of his matches. It was nice that he brought his daughter today to see the hockey. He is an inspiration for Scottish sport. What he’s achieved (coming) from a relatively small place like Dunblane, the fight he’s shown through 19 years as a professional tennis player, he’s a total inspiration for everyone in Team GB.”
For Rio 2016 gold and Tokyo 2022 silver medallists Great Britain, Saturday’s result confirmed a fourth-place finish in the Pool B and the prospect of meeting the Pool A winners the Netherlands – the reigning Olympic, World, European and FIH Hockey Pro League champions – in Monday’s quarter-finals. Reflecting on today’s performance and alto the prospect of facing the Netherlands in the knock-out phase, Robertson said:
“We had a really good first half. We were pleased at half-time. We probably should have made more of our chances. And then we picked up some cards in the second half. I think we had a yellow card when they scored two goals, so we’re disappointed with that. We need to keep 11 players on the field. But we also need to be tougher in those moments.”
“The Netherlands are the best team in the world, so we know it’s not going to be an easy match. If we play like we did in the first half, we can compete. But we have got to do that for 60 minutes and we have got to give it our all on Monday.”
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.
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