The Netherlands survived a major scare to beat China 3-1 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in regulation to retain their women's title at the Paris Olympics on Friday, giving the Dutch the hockey double after Thursday's men's triumph.
China failed to convert their first two attempts in the shootout and Dutch goalkeeper Anne Veenendaal stopped the fourth penalty from Ma Ning to secure the win and hand the Netherlands a fifth title in 12 Olympic women's tournaments.
"Normally I just go on intuition for penalties," Veenendaal said.
"I don't write anything down but I could see the patterns this time and decide to write them down. So every time I could see someone walk up I looked at the number and knew what they were going to do."
The Chinese opened the scoring in the sixth minute when forward Chen Yi turned midfielder Dan Wen's pass past Veenendaal to stun the mass ranks of orange-shirted Dutch fans packed into the stands.
After the goal, China dropped all their players into the circle when the Dutch were in the attacking third to try and stifle their opponents.
The Dutch dominated possession with 13 shots and 19 incursions into the attacking circle over the game but could not find a way past Ye Jiao in China's goal.
Excellent defending by Yang Liu in the 17th minute saw Marijn Veen denied a goal after breaking loose from tight coverage and shooting the ball past Ye's raised stick.
The Dutch continued to press and forward Frederique Matla hit the post from a penalty corner in the 26th minute.
A minute later, China's He Jiangxin raced off the line and blocked a shot to deny the tournament's leading scorer, Yibbi Jansen.
The Dutch were urged on by the sea of fans but it was not until nine minutes from time that they managed the breakthrough when Jansen finally got the equaliser from a penalty corner for her ninth goal in Paris.
"It was a nerve-wracking game," Jansen said. "China defended so well and they made it so difficult. They did very well. We've been through a lot and to get the gold medal this way is I think the most beautiful thing we ever achieved."
Ye denied another penalty-corner attempt by Jansen in the penultimate minute with her leg to push the game into the shootout.
"I don't have any regrets today," Ye said. "I accept this result, and I'm also happy about it. Because we never gave up on the field.
"Although we didn't win the gold medal today, the silver medal proves that Chinese girls are capable of winning. I hope that we will work even harder towards the championship."
The Dutch women have dominated hockey since first fielding a women's team in 1984, missing out on a medal only once in 1992.
This is the first time both the Netherlands men's and women's teams have won Olympic gold in the same year following the men's shootout victory over Germany on Thursday.
