The Netherlands won men's field hockey gold at the Olympic Games in Paris after beating Germany on penalties after a dramatic final in Colombes, on the outskirts of Paris, on Thursday.

Duco Telgenkamp scored the decisive penalty, beating Jean-Paul Danneberg after the German goalkeeper had kept his team in the shootout by saving the Netherlands' first two attempts.

But Niklas Wellen, Hannes Müller and Thies Prinz also missed for Germany, who were forced to settle for silver under the eyes of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Despite missing out on gold, the silver medal represents an improvement on the team's performance in Tokyo three years ago, when Germany lost in the bronze medal match.

Dramatic final quarter

Earlier, Thierry Brinkman had given the Netherlands the lead at the start of the final quarter, tapping home from close range and sparking a spectacular closing period.

The Dutch almost sealed victory just two minutes later but Gonzalo Peillat saved miraculously on the goal line to keep Germany in the match.

And the Germans seized their chance, flying up the field to win a penalty corner.

Prinz initially fumbled his first touch but then capitalized on confusion in the Dutch defense to fire home the equalizer and set up the penalty shootout, which went the Netherlands' way.

mf/dj (SID, dpa)