In the grand men's Olympic Final, Jan-Philipp Rabente made himself an instant German hero as he emerged from the shadows to score twice to hand his side the men’s gold medal with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands. Prior to the game, no outfielder in the German squad had scored less international goals than the midfielder but he popped up at the back post to guide the winner in with under five minutes to go, ensuring the Olympic men’s title would stay in Germany for another four years.
The Dutch celebrated their Silver medal and the end of an era, as legendary Teun de Nooijer announced his definitive retirement from international hockey at the age of 36, after 453 international matches in which he scored 216 goals and four medals in five Olympic appearances, including two consecutive Golds in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.
In the match for Olympic Bronze, Australia had too much strength for hosts Great Britain, claiming a medal for a sixth successive Games but relinquished their world number one ranking to the Germans due to their third place finish.
The clash for fifth place had Belgium's Red Lions claim a 5-2 win over Spain to take fifth, their best finish since 1928.
In the fourth encounter of the day, South Africa’s men recorded their first Olympic win since 2004, a 3-2 success against India that netted them eleventh place overall.
For a look back to the final day of the men's Olympic tournament, please find videos and photos from London below.
