Germany won their first women's hockey gold medal after edging out Holland 2-1 in a tense final. Anke Kuehn and Franziska Gude both netted superb goals to fire the Germans two goals ahead after just 20 minutes.
The Dutch pulled one goal back after half-time when Maartje Scheepstra tapped in a penalty corner, but the Germans held on to claim their gold.
Luciana Aymer hit the winner as world champions Argentina beat China 1-0 in the play-off for the bronze medal.
"I can't feel anything. I can't believe it," said Nadine Ernsting Krienke, Germany's most capped player.
It is Germany's first hockey medal since they won silver in 1992 and they went into the event ranked only seventh.
"I still don't realize what we've done," German forward Silke Mueller said. "We never imagined we'd get so far."
Dutch defender Ageeth Boomgaardt said: "We are angry with ourselves. We came so close to the gold medal but we got scared. We had many opportunities but we were afraid in the last effort to score."
Aymer struck Argentina's winner in the final minute of their play-off with a powerful shot from just inside the circle.
Before the goal Argentina, who won silver in 2000, went close through Ines Arrondo and Agustina Garcia but Chinese keeper Nie Yali denied them with two classic saves.
MMIX
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