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SEPTEMBER SERIES I               SEPTEMBER SERIES II                 SEPTEMBER SERIES III

SEPTEMBER SERIES IV: You could attach a label “captain’s knock” to Stephan Veen’s feat in the Sydney Olympic final played on this day 20 years ago. No, cricket wasn’t played at the Sydney Games. It was the hockey stick alright that the Dutch captain wielded, not the willow in a superlative performance to help bring the Netherlands their second Olympic gold medal.

History maker at Sydney Olympics the incomparable Stephen Veen (r) of The Netherlands

Veen, an ebullient midfielder, scored a hat-trick – all of Netherlands’ goals in regulation time — and then the decisive one in the tie-breaker to beat South Korea at Sydney’s Olympic Park and help his country retain the gold medal they won for the first time in Atlanta.

It took nerves of steel to step up and score amid high pressure after the Dutch fritted away a 3-1 lead in regulation time with four minutes left on the clock.

 Veen converted the final attempt of the set of five penalty strokes to seal it for the Dutch. In regulation time, his goals in the 20^th, 36^th and 64^th seemed to settle it but the Koreans who took the lead through Song Seung-Tae in the 9^th minute came back strongly with two goals in the 66^th minute through Kim Kyun-Seok and Kang Keon-Wook to force tie-breaker.

There were celebrations on either side of the pitch, however. Beaten they may have been but the Koreans surpassed their own expectations to win the silver and chaired their iconic coach Kim Sang-Ryul.

Lethal Combo: Captain Veen and coach Roelant Oltmans

The Netherlands won their semifinals against hosts Australia also through the tie-breaker after there was no score in regulation time. The Dutch won 5-4 with Veen on target but with the fourth attempt. It boiled down to the last penalty stroke of the set of five and amid massive pressure Brent Livermore failed to score, giving the Dutch passage into the final.

Both the Dutch and the Koreans enjoyed a huge slice of luck in entering the medal round which both bid adieu to on a dramatic concluding day of the league phase.

Dutch chances were dead and buried it appeared after a 0-2 defeat to Pakistan who topped the pool. Pool rivals Germany led 1-0 against Britain and appeared cruising towards the last four but the British bounced back to win 2-1 and spark celebrations in the Dutch section of the Olympic village. Even a draw would have put the Germans through but, much to Dutch delight, that was not to be. Britain were already out of the running and played for pride.

Stephan Veen (l) with another Dutch legend Ties Kruize

South Korea had lost to hosts Australia and with India odds-on-favourites to beat Poland, languishing last but one in the pool perhaps braced for the classification matches.

India led 1-0 through Dilip Tirkey’s corner strike in the 53^rd minute and with only 106 seconds left on the clock, Tomacz Cichy exploited a quirk in defence to rifle in past a bewildered Jude Menezes in goal to shatter the eight-time Olympic champions’ dreams.

The Kookaburras won the bronze with a 6-3 demolition of another devastated team – Pakistan – who dominated their semifinal against South Korea but still finished on the losing side 0-1.

The Koreans converted one of only three penalty corners that came their way through an indirect attempt by Song Seung-Tae. As many seven awards fell to Pakistan and their ace drag-flicker Sohail Abbas but he was thwarted by the Korean “suicide” runners at the set-piece, one of whom ended up in hospital.

The women’s competition ended in glory for the hosts as the Hockeyroos beat Argentina 3-1 to win their third Olympic gold medal and second in a row.

No surprise therefore field hockey at the Sydney Olympics finished second to athletics in terms of percentage of capacity attendence.

Final standings

Men

1. Netherlands
2. South Korea
3. Australia
4. Pakistan
5. Germany
6. Great Britain
7. India
8. Argentina
9. Spain
10. Canada
11. Malaysia
12. Poland

Women

Australia
Argentina
Netherlands
Spain
China
New Zealand
Germany
Great Britain
South Korea
South Africa

Photos: Top and bottom:  K. Arumugam