Hockey, Women

The 1992 Olympic hockey tournament was packed with surprises. The two teams playing the 1990 World Championship final, Australia and Netherlands, both failed to make the semifinals. Instead, their places were taken by Germany, Great Britain and South Korea - all top nations - and Spain. The Spanish women’s hockey team had been a special project for the Barcelona Organization Committee (COOB), which sponsored the squad. The choice might have been based on family bonds, as attacker Eli Maragall was the niece of Pasqual Maragall, the president of COOB. Fiercely supported by the home crowd in the Spanish field hockey center of Terrassa, the Spanish women rewarded their investors. They won a tense semi-final against South Korea in overtime to progress into the final, where they encountered Germany. The two teams had met earlier in the competition, drawing two all. After seventy minutes in the final, the score was again level. Maragall then made her uncle proud by scoring the decider thirteen minutes into extra time.