The Golden Girls made history in an epic Olympic final against Germany. Anna Maiques remembers that dream night in Terrassa
“It was an impossible feat, the greatest reward an athlete can aspire to and what’s more, we achieved it at home,” he says 30 years later
On August 7, 1992, the Olympic stadium in Terrassa experienced a magical night in which the field hockey team won what is still today the first and only gold medal for a Spanish women’s team at a Games. “It was a dream of a summer night, an unrepeatable and unforgettable moment & rdquor ;, recalls Anna Maiques, one of the components of that group of 16 girls who made history for our sport in the best possible scenario, at home, in Barcelona 92.
“I have the medal framed and I show it from time to time”, she confesses with pride and inevitable nostalgia: “30 years later, my best memory is the moment we realized we were champions, when we won gold, because it was an impossible feat, the highest reward an athlete can aspire to and we also got it at home, in front of our families and friends, with the stadium stands bursting and more than 12,000 people chanting our names… when they hang the medal around your neck you get rid of all the nerves, all the pressure and you can already enjoy & rdquor ;.
The team, however, did not leave the whole party until after the final: “When we managed to win the semifinal, which already assured us a medal, whatever color it was, we celebrated as if we had already won. That helped us to face the final more relaxed, after many months of work, pressure and self-demand. Then, when we got the gold, there was another big celebration at the Egara club, with the whole hockey community and our families.”
Although several of the members of the team, like Anna, were from Terrassa and had trained in the city’s clubs, during the Games the team stayed in the Olympic Village: “We are glad that the organizers made a sub-venue possible in Terrassa, knowing the tradition that exists here for field hockey, which also made its debut in the Olympic sports program in 1992. But we also live very intensely the experience of being in the village olympic living with the stars of other sports. No one knew us and the first few days we lacked eyes, although later it was not so bad, I remember that we asked Carl Lewis for photos and we thought: “How cocky & rdquor ;.
The road to the Games was not easy. That group of girls was fully committed to the goal and underwent a very tough previous preparation, physically and also psychologically, with endless trips, tournaments around the world and many days away from home. “When the aid and the Ado plan arrived, we all left our jobs, because this is an amateur sport, and we started training like crazy from January 1 & rdquor ;, she relates. Her partner Mercedes Coghen told some time ago that the coach, the Galician Joseph Brasa, proposed three possible objectives: “The first option was to arrive, parade and have a good time, the second, to go for fifth place and the third, to fight for the medals. He told us that last one was going to require inhumane work and that’s what we did & rdquor ;.
Anna does not want to forget those who began that adventure with the same enthusiasm and “fell by the wayside”, since at the beginning the pre-selection was made up of 30 players “and we had to be 16”. In Barcelona 92, Brasa ended up recruiting Mercedes Coghen, Mariví González, Sonia Barrio, Natalia Dorado, Eli Maragall, Mª Isabel Martínez de Murguía, Nuria Olivés, Virginia Ramírez, Mª Angeles Rodríguez, Silvia Manrique, Teresa Motos, Maider Tellería, Mari Carmen Barea, Nagore Gabellanes, Celia Corres and Anna Maiques herself.
“The atmosphere of the team was good, the pressure was put on us as the Games approached. The worst game in this sense, in which the responsibility weighed on us the most and in which we did not do well at all, was the first, which we drew against Germany. Then we face the rest of the tournament more focused. We were only eight teams, two groups of four, semifinals and final, so if you lost you went home. Little by little we believed it, we saw that the medal was possible & rdquor ;, recognizes Anna.
“In the final I didn’t play as a starter. Logically I would have liked it, but when I went out on the field and thought: This is mine, there are 30 minutes left and we have to give everything. We knew each other a lot with the Germans, from many years in international tournaments, and they had also been our first rivals in the Olympic group,yes, of all the teams that could touch us to fight for the gold, Germany was the one that best suited us. Let’s say that it was a desired final and in which fortunately the result was the best possible, an absolute dream & rdquor ;.
“Thanks to new technologies, whatsapp and networks, we keep in touch, not only the players, but all those who were part of the coaching staff in 1992. Periodically we organize dinners to see each other and remember those days that were so special for all of us. On the 25th anniversary of the Games we met and now, in fifteen days, we will meet again to commemorate 30 years and to attend the semifinals and the final of the World Cup that is being played here in Terrassa, on the same stage where we got the gold & rdquor ;, reveals Anna.
Other unforgettable moments were the Olympic ceremonies: “We had to convince the coach to let us parade at the opening of the Games. We were all very excited but for concentration reasons they didn’t want us to go. It is true that there are many hours of waiting and you get tired, but it was a unique occasion and we did not know if there would be more opportunities, since until then hockey was not Olympic. Luckily we had the first game after three days and in the end they allowed us to go out to parade, although we had to agree to change our shoes at the last moment, just to go around the stadium, the rest with sneakers… And well, the closing of the Games was something else, we were champions and we enjoyed it very much. Evidently when the public address system sounded “athletes, get off the stage & rdquor; we were there, giving everything & rdquor ;.
The Olympic tournament:
The Spanish team debuted in the women’s Olympic field hockey tournament on July 27, 1992 with a draw (2-2) against Germany. “A horrible game, the worst we did, with a lot of nerves & rdquor ;, says Anna Maiques. Two days later, with more serenity, the players coached by José Brasa beat Canada (2-1) and in the third match of the group stage they beat Australia (1-0), who were then defending the Olympic title. In the semifinal they faced Korea, who had won them 7-0 in the last World Cup. Natalia Dorado scored in the 9th minute but the Koreans equalized from a penalty corner in 29 and the team needed extra time to define, thanks to Mari Carme Barea. “That assured us the medal and we took all the pressure off ourselves, it was a very positive factor for the final”, recalls Maiques. In the final they met Germany again. Barea opened the scoring and Hetschel tied the game, both from penalty corners. The winning goal, again in extra time, was the work of Eli Maragall. That night the ‘golden girls’ made history.