So remarkably dominant are the Netherlands’ all-conquering women’s hockey team that coach Paul van Ass issued a stress warning prior to the Paris Olympics. “That’s the biggest pitfall we can fall into. So we actually play against ourselves,” he said of his world No 1 side.
“They also know if things don’t go so well, it’s your own pain. You carry that with you for the rest of your life.” Talk about pressure for an Oranje squad that has featured nine Olympic debutants in Paris.
Yet Van Ass’s words have reasoning. We talk about basketball’s Boston Celtics in the 1960s and the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, or the mere mention of the All Blacks. But the Dutch women have rightful claims to being the most successful sports team ever following an eye-opening set of under-reported statistics over the past 20 years.
Thus, this latest Dutch production line had much to live up to. None more so than Friday’s tension-fuelled Olympic final. The Netherlands women’s record since an Olympic silver medal at Athens 2004 is staggering.
While the Dutch are notably direct on and off the pitch, creating a buzz is not in their DNA. Perhaps it is down to having gleaned so much. Thus, Telegraph Sport asked Dutch hockey stats guru Ramon Min, to compile a 20-year record and the results underline how great this orange-clad team is.
Their thrilling, come-from-behind shoot-out win over China in the women’s final on Friday night, saw them claim a 34th victory in 38 Olympic matches s.