Maddie Hinch says “this is what dreams are made of,” following an emphatic display to secure a first Olympic hockey gold medal.

“This is what dreams are made of,” said Great Britain women’s goalkeeper Maddie Hinch following her superb shootout display to ensure a first Olympic hockey gold medal in an extremely tense affair against defending champions the Netherlands.

It was a glorious summer evening in Rio. The Dutch were on mass, the stands a sea of orange with a couple of Union Jacks nestled in between, all in anticipation of the final. The game did not disappoint. Concluding 3-3 in normal time, with little to separate the two sides, the coaches gathered their teams for an intense huddle before the penalty shuffle began. The current world champions, however, could not beat Hinch, who saved all four Dutch penalties. GB’s Helen Richardson-Walsh capitalised on a penalty flick after Sophie Bray was fouled, and Hollie Webb sealed the victory when she converted her penalty. Britain won 2-0.

However, it was Hinch who was the standout. Saving a Maartje Paumen penalty early on and keeping out several of the opponents penalty corners, it was a fine display.

“Goalkeeping has its highs and lows. You can be the villain, but you can also be the hero,” she said.

Naturally going into a final there was bound to be nerves. The 27-year-old explained: “I was a bit nervous, and my legs felt really heavy, but I was confident as well.”

For eagle eyed viewers you might have noticed that prior to the shootout, the Goalkeeper pulled out a little black book with notes on the opposition. Not long after, she was embracing her teammates having secured the gold. Coincidence, I think not.

“The notebook is purely for the shoot-out. In there I have the players that I think will step up and for each of those players I have a plan of what I will do against them.

“Under pressure players tend to resort to what they know best, so I come up with a plan and that gives me confidence. It was quite helpful that the Dutch had a shootout [against Germany] a day before. I just give myself a game-plan for each player and I go out and execute that,” said the gold medallist.

Despite defeating world’s number 1 team to secure first gold in hockey, that was not the most impressive achievement for some, including her brother. “My brother texted me to say, 'you’re trending on Twitter’. He didn’t mention anything about the gold medal – that came later,” she said.

For the little girl who had “never really heard of hockey” when her PE teacher Miss Lambert encouraged her to put the pads on “it feels like we are in a dream”.