Olympics-Hockey-Belgium determined to improve on Rio Games silver

Rio Silver

15/07/2021 21:03

By Mark Gleeson
    July 15 (Reuters) - There were few things more annoying for
Belgian hockey player Arthur van Doren than the expression
“you’ve got to lose a final before you win one”.
    What was an attempt to console Van Doren after his team had
to settle for the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics only
served to make his blood boil. 
    But the 26-year-old defender, twice named hockey’s Player of
the Year, begrudgingly admits there might be a modicum of truth
to it.
    He and his team mates have bounced back from the
disappointment of 4-2 loss to Argentina in the gold medal match
to win the World Cup two years later and will start the 12-team
Tokyo Olympics tournament as favourites.
    “I found that annoying but there is a little bit of truth in
it. Losing acquires a bit more hunger, it pushes you to train
and work a little bit harder and I think we acquired some
experience from that match,” he told Reuters in an interview. 
    “It ended up being a difficult moment, because you obviously
want to win, but a very good lesson for the future.”
    Since Rio, Belgium have gone from strength to strength,
taking the World Cup in India, then a first ever European title
in 2019 and this year’s ProLeague, a round-robin competition
involving the world’s top nine hockey playing nations.
 
    RED LIONS
    The Rio Games silver medal has been the spur to go on to
better things. 
    “It’s obviously a very nice memory but we also kept it as
fuel for tournaments after that as well, for example the World
Cup and the Europeans,” Van Doren said. 
    Belgium’s Red Lions are reaping the rewards of an ambitious
talent identification programme launched more than a decade ago
which has catapulted the small country into the ranks of the
world’s best.
    “It’s not often that a generation produces five or six
really top hockey players. Probably every generation has one or
two but not four, five or even six (who) have ended up being the
spine of the Red Lions at the moment,” he added.
    Olympic gold would be the cherry on top. 
    “You have to be realistic, there are perhaps four-five
really good contenders for the gold, so in hockey nowadays if
you are not at 100% you are going to lose to a lot of teams,” he
added.
    “It’s going to be an interesting tournament … with the
virus, the protocols, the heat. We will focus on our process and
the things we think we need to do to be successful. 
    "If we end up being successful … awesome … if we don’t we
will definitely have done everything we could."

 (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Pritha
Sarkar)
 ((mark.gleeson@thomsonreuters.com; +27828257807; Reuters
Messaging: mark.gleeson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))