Marlow’s Alex Danson is an Olympic champion after Team GB’s hockey team won an historic gold medal with a penalty shootout victory over the Netherlands at Rio 2016.

After taking the lead through Lily Owsley, Britain found themselves trailing to goals from Kitty Van Male and Maartje Paumen.

Crista Cullen levelled the scores before Van Male struck her second to make it 3-2 heading into the final quarter.

Nicola White turned home to drag GB level and force a penalty shootout which saw Holland fail to beat Maddie Hinch with any of their spot kicks.

Holly Webb converted the winning strike to hand GB’s women’s hockey team their first ever Olympic gold medal.

Hinch saved an early penalty stroke to keep GB level before Owsley put Danny Kerry’s side ahead from close range.

They held the lead until the second period, but the world number one’s came out a frightening pace after the restart.

Kitty Van Male showed superb control to round Hinch and fire into the roof of the empty British net to level for the Dutch.

They made the most of a penalty corner later in the quarter as Paumen’s low drive gave her side the lead.

Their advantage would not last long, however, and a goalkeeping error saw Crista Cullen’s weak shot slip under the Dutch stopper to restore parity.

In truth, the strike only provided a brief respite for GB and the Netherlands were well in the ascendency heading into the second half.

They made their dominance pay halfway through the third quarter as Britain’s resilience was finally broken by a succession of penalty corners.

Again it was Van Male who punished the London 2012 bronze medallists with a neat finish from close range.

The final 15 minutes of the game was arguably the biggest of the British team’s careers, and they fought back to level with nine minutes remaining.

White’s scrambled effort was far from pretty, but it mattered little as she reacted quickest to turn home the rebound from a penalty corner.

It was the last meaningful moment of the match and the game ticked into a penalty shootout with no further incident.

The shootout sees attackers given eight seconds to run at goal and score and penalty strokes are awarded if the keeper fouls.

After two misses a piece Sophie Bray was brought down by the Dutch Keeper and Helen Richardson-Walsh stepped up to convert a penalty stroke.

A further two misses from the Dutch gave Webb the chance to win it for Britain and she emphatically dispatched a high drive to claim gold for Britain.

Danson ended the tournament, which may be her last, with five goals and played an integral role in the GB effort as they won all eight of their games in Rio.