Paris and field hockey have history. Introduced for the 1908 Games in London, the sport was removed from the 1924 Games in the French capital and so piqued were hockey's great and good from several countries that the International Hockey Federation was immediately founded in Paris.
The International Olympic Committee, the outfit which oversees the Olympic Games, took note of the outrage and men's field hockey was reinserted into the roster at the next Olympic extravaganza in 1928 in Amsterdam.
Nearly 100 years on, the Dutch men's team were in the final against Germany in the city that had snubbed the sport.
And the two sides served up a gripping encounter in front of a capacity crowd of 15,000 at the Yves du Manoir Stadium just to the west of Paris.
It ended 1-1, with fourth-quarter goals in quick succession from the Dutch captain Thierry Brinkman and Germany's Thies Prinz.
Shoot-out
The stalemate took it straight into a penalty shoot-out in which five players from each team are alloted eight seconds to start from the 23-metre line and score a goal.
The first two efforts for each side were saved by the goalkeepers before Brinkman put the Dutch 1-0 up with the third penalty.
The Netherlands keeper, Pirmin Blaak, then saved Germany's third strike from Prinz.
Thijs van Dam made it 2-0 to the Netherlands with their fourth penalty meaning Justus Weigand had to score for Gemany to maintain their interest. He fulfilled his task.
That success left Duco Telgenkamp with the chance to seal the glory. The 22-year-old advanced, checked, feinted and flicked the ball in the top right hand corner of Jean-Paul Danneberg's goal.
The Dutch, who had not won Olympic gold since 2000, rejoiced. The Germans were ashen-faced.
"We have a great group of guys," said the Dutch head coach Jeroen Delmee, "For me, the most beautiful thing in life is just hard work, trying to get better every day pushing the guys day in, day out to become better hockey players.
"And then if you see where we end up and winning the Olympic final, it's as a coach. It's the most beautiful moment in my life."
Strength
The Germans, the reigning world champions, entered the final with the psychological edge after beating the Netherlands 1-0 during the group stages.
They had the better of the first half and dominated possession as the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, watched in the stands.
Following the exchange of goals, Johannes Grosse came close to a winner two minutes from time for the Germans but Blaak made a smart stop.
"We played an impressive tournament," said the Germany head coach André Henning.
"We were in the World Cup final 18 months ago, won it and we've just narrowly lost in the Olympic final in the shoot-out.
"We brought an incredible amount of quality to the table on so many levels, in terms of play, athleticism, but also mentally.
"Of course we wanted gold but a silver medal is also a fantastic reward for a great performance."
On Friday, the Netherlands can claim double gold in the hockey when the women's team, who won the title in Tokyo in 2021, take on China.
