Hockey player slams opponent for 'most disrespectful thing I've experienced in sport' after Olympic final erupts into brawl
If there's one thing that's worse than a sore loser, it's a bad winner.
Yesterday (August 8) marked the men's Olympic hockey final, with the Netherlands and Germany going head-to-head in the hopes of winning gold.
Following a 1-1 draw at full time, the two teams had a shootout with the Netherlands going to prove victorious by beating their opponents 3-1.
But there were calls for the team to be disqualified afterwards for their unsportsman-like behavior that followed after their win.
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Duco Telgenkamp in particular ruffled people's feathers by shushing Germany's goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg before clipping the German's helmet with his hand.
Danneberg's teammate, Niklas Wellen, then went to confront Telgenkamp for his questionable actions, but the rest of the Netherlands' hockey team intervened.
Like sports fans, Olympic commentators weren't pleased with the way the 22-year-old acted.
One said: "That’s not good from Telgenkamp, you judge a player by how they win and I’m afraid that is not the way to celebrate."
Danneberg has now broken his silence after yesterday's drama and criticised Telegenkamp.
"That was the most disrespectful thing I have ever experienced in sport," he said, as per Mail Online.
"I don't know how someone can be such a bad winner. It is the best moment of his life and he is booed for it at the awards ceremony."
Meanwhile, Telgenkamp has apologized for the way he behaved. He said: "What I did was not nice. I am sorry for the way I acted.
"Again, emotions came up at the end. But it is what it is - we won. I would have apologized if I had seen him."
The young athlete also claimed that negative pre-match comments made about the Netherlands' chance of success got to the players.
"There were articles and we took them personally," Telgenkamp explained. "After that it became very emotional."
Hockey isn't the only sport where things have been kicking off; there was also a heated exchange between two athletes who competed in one of the men's 5,000 meter runs.
The heat in question descended into chaos after five runners fell to the floor, with Team GB's George Mills going on to confront Frenchman Hugo Hay afterwards, seemingly blaming him for the incident.
Speaking to the BBC after the race, Mills said: "I mean, I think it’s pretty clear, I got stepped out on as I was about to kick in the home straight and boom. Yeah, French lad took me down."
Despite the unfortunate incident, Mills has still qualified for tomorrow's final (August 10).
Topics: Olympics, Sport, News, Germany, Netherlands
Niamh Shackleton