Cambridge’s Gareth Furlong revelled in a dream Olympic debut as his double helped Great Britain to a 4-0 win over Spain in their Pool A opener.
The 148-cap Wales international, who grew up playing for Cambridge Nomads, was joined on the scoresheet by Nick Park and Rupert Shipperley as Paul Revington’s side began with a statement of intent at Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
Furlong was only drafted on to the GB set-up earlier this year, when he scored on his debut, and the 32-year-old is continuing to make up for lost time.
“I still have to pinch myself every now and then, things have moved quite quickly in the last six months,” he said.
“To come out first game and start with three points is the most important thing. Everyone has been ready to get going and it’s a perfect start for us.
“Prep has been really good, we had a productive couple of training games and we’ve just been building for this first game.
“Scoring is part of my job in the team and it’s nice to have the homework pay off.”
Spain spurned several good chances in the opening quarter and it took a moment of magic from Park to settle British nerves, the defender pressing high, stealing possession and finishing coolly into the top corner.
Off to a flier ????
— Team GB (@TeamGB) July 27, 2024
A commanding 4-0 win for our men's hockey team this morning including this stunner from Nick Park!
????️ @BBCSport #TeamGB #Paris2024pic.twitter.com/p0ksqJC40Q
Furlong’s first came on 16 minutes as he fired between the legs of goalkeeper Luis Calzado following a short corner and the routine was repeated successfully with 12 minutes to play.
Shipperley, whose 14-week-old niece, Olive, was among the spectators at Stade Yves-du-Manoir, then finished from close range as Team GB’s men earned just a second Olympic victory over Spain in eight meetings between the two nations.
Hopes are high of a charge for the podium in Paris – and perhaps even a first gold since Seoul 1988 – but Furlong is not looking further than Sunday’s second group game against South Africa.
“The result is really good but we need to keep building into this tournament,” added Furlong, one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on his pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.
“We gave them a few too many chances and Ollie (Payne) in goal played fantastically well.
If we want to end up at the top of the podium, we have a bit of building to do but the confidence is there that we can do that.
“We’ll do our prep for South Africa and build into that one.”
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