On Sunday (28 July), the men of Germany and Spain went head-to-head in high quality Pool A encounter, with the Red Sticks recovering from their opening day 4-0 defeat to Great Britain with a 2-0 victory against Die Honamas, the reigning world champions who had so comprehensively beaten France 8-2 on the opening day.
In addition to being a thrilling contest for the thousands of fans watching at Yves-du-Manoir, there was also a fascinating substory involving two opposing players – Germany’s Gonzalo Peillat and Joaquin Menini of Spain.
Eight years ago, Peillat and Menini were international team-mates, key players for the Argentina team that stunned the hockey world by storming to a glorious gold medal at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. Peillat scored 11 goals to finish top of the scoring charts, while Menini netted a crucial goal for Los Leones in their sensational 5-2 semi-final win over Germany.
With both having switched nationalities having spent a long time playing in Europe, the two Olympic champions are once again targeting gold, albeit with different nations.
"(It was) exactly the same for both of us who lived in Europe, and we had the opportunity to play for Spain and for Germany”, said 31-year-old Peillat, who became a world champion with Germany in 2023. “When we took this opportunity again, just to play internationally, it's always nice to come back in this level and show it.”
“When I decided not to play again (for Argentina), I was completely out (of international hockey)”, continued Peillat. “It was something that I never did before because when you are this level you are always training. I enjoyed this time really, with my wife, and then came this opportunity to play again. It took a lot of time to think about, because it's not an easy decision. But after two years thinking about it, I (thought) why not come back to international hockey, which is nice and keeps me busy."
While their nationalities have changed, both Peillat and Menini remain close friends, hanging out with each other in the Olympic village drinking mate, a popular south American drink, together. Peillat admits that he has introduced mate to some of his Germany team-mates.
“We have a group of six people who drink mate,” said Peillat. “They really like it and they have their own (mate) sets and then everyone sometimes brings a different one.”
When asked whether he and Menini joke that they are the only players in their squads with Olympic gold medals, Peillat said: “We just enjoy (being) here at the Olympics. In both teams, they won a lot of things. Spain is a great team. In Germany, they also have players who have been playing for a long time, and they have also won a lot of things.”
The hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 take place from Saturday 27 July to Friday 9 August. Both the men’s and women’s competitions feature 12 teams, split into two pools of six ahead of quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches. For more information about the hockey competitions at Paris 2024, visit Olympics.Hockey.
