Triple delight for Unsworth
HOCKEY history-maker Laura Unsworth was left pinching herself after winning a third Olympic medal as Great Britain’s women beat India in an epic bronze medal match, writes Andrew Baldock of PA Sport.
Unsworth, 33, became the first British male or female hockey player to capture three Olympic medals – bronze in London and Tokyo, and gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
While Britain could not replicate that Rio triumph, a 4-3 victory over India guaranteed another podium finish.
“To be honest, it probably is up there with the Rio gold medal,” said former Loughborough University student Unsworth.
“The things we have had to overcome as a team, people don’t know about. As a squad, we stuck together. We have been resilient – we fight.
“You don’t really think of that when you are an athlete (three medals in successive Games).
“If someone told me when I first started playing hockey when I was 11 that I would win three Olympic medals, I would have just looked at them and said: ‘you what’?”
When it was put to her that her feat might become a future quiz question, she added: “Or a Pointless answer.
“Winning medals, you kind of get addicted to it. You forget all about all the lows, and all you remember are the highs.”
Unsworth hopes to be part of England’s Commonwealth Games challenge in her home town of Birmingham next summer.
Although the Rio 2016 champions relinquished their title following an emphatic loss to the Dutch, they dug deep and secured a third successive Games podium finish.
They led 2-0, then fell behind before winning it in the final quarter with Grace Balsdon’s penalty corner clincher.
Loughborough University PhD student Ellie Rayer opened the scoring, Sarah Robertson made it 2-0, only for India to score three times in four minutes during a frantic second quarter, with Gurjit Kaur netting twice and Vandana Katariya also hitting the target.
Captain Hollie Pearne-Webb equalised in the third quarter, before Britain showed composure to go back in front and close out a fine victory that sparked scenes of wild celebration.
Both Rayer and Izzy Petter, a member of Loughborough Students Women’s Hockey Club, will return to the town as Olympic medallists.
As well as Unsworth, a further four Loughborough alumnae also made the podium – Maddie Hinch, Sarah Jones, Giselle Ansley, and Leah Wilkinson.