Brits can bounce back

Jane Sixsmith: The Olympics were her swansong

Former GB hockey star Sean Kerly congratulates Holland and Australia on their gold medals and wonders what might have been had the British men got off to a better start.

All in all it was a wonderful Olympic hockey tournament with both the Dutch men and the Australian women deservedly winning golds.

Hockey was welcomed to Australia with open arms and to tumultuous applause from the home fans.

I was very disappointed with the British women because they showed so much promise before the tournament

  Sean Kerly

The players also played a pivotal role in the success of the tournament, with some enthralling matches ensuring that the sport left Australia in a much healthier condition than when it arrived.

The organisers also did a superb job and it worked extremely well with all the action concentrated on one pitch.

Certainly, the most exciting part of the Games for me were the semi finals in which a Dutch side, who so nearly failed to qualify, excelled to beat the hosts.

Brilliant

It must have been brilliant for them to collect gold after they so nearly crashed out.

But overall I believe they had the strongest side and although they had their fair share of luck along the way, they were extremely well prepared.

Similarly, the Australians underlined their reputation as the greatest women's hockey side in history by claiming their third gold medal in four Olympic Games with a 3-1 win over Argentina.

There is no doubt that they were streets ahead of the other sides in Sydney and full-marks to their coach who I think has played an instrumental role in their domination of the sport.

They have focused a lot of their training on the fitness aspect of the game and are consequently reaping the rewards.

But the British women, who I was very disappointed with because they showed so much promise before the tournament, can't just take a look at the way the Aussies play and copy them.

Build

We have to find our own strengths and build from there.

The most exciting part of the Games for me were the semi finals

  Sean Kerly

One country we could look at is the Koreans, who have progressed enormously in very little time, and were unfortunate not to beat the Dutch in the men's final.

With the men it's a completely different story. After an extremely poor start to proceedings, they started to play really well as soon as they lost any chance of making the semi-finals.

If you had asked me where I thought they would finish before the tournament began, I would have said a respectable sixth - and that's exactly where they finished.

If they'd only have got off to a reasonable start and drawn with Australia then who knows what could have happened.

But they must also learn how to take the game to the opposition.

It was also a significant tournament for Britain's Jane Sixsmith who has now retired from the game.

She never let the British women down at any point in her career and if perhaps she was given better service she would be remembered as one of hockey's greats.