Giselle Ansley’s spectacular strike was not enough to prevent Team GB falling to a 2-1 defeat to Spain in their opening hockey clash at Paris 2024.
Team GB's women are seeking to medal at a fourth straight Games after claiming bronze medals either side of their memorable gold at Rio 2016.
They went behind after two minutes at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium as Laura Barrios scrambled the ball in before Ansley levelled from a penalty corner just two minutes later.
An eventful first quarter saw Spain reclaim the lead via a penalty corner through Lola Riera and despite a flurry of chances falling Great Britain's way, Spain held firm.
“In the first quarter we were definitely under the cosh a bit. We knew that was going to be the case, Spain are always going to make the game quite chaotic,” said goal-scorer Ansley.
“They are one of the few women’s teams that play man-to-man. I thought we rode it out well and actually in the end deserved at least a draw.
“We had so many chances, corners definitely. If we just had a bit more quality on them I think it would have been a different story.”
Ansley’s goal was just her second at the Olympic Games having netted in the semi-final defeat to Netherlands at Tokyo 2020, and she was pleased to have made an instant impact this time.
“It was a nice way to start,” she said. “It’s a shame I couldn’t have got any more to be honest because we had many chances after that. So it was a bit frustrating, but that’s my job.”
There is plenty of time for David Ralph’s side to turn things around, with four of the six teams in each pool progressing to the quarter-finals.
Three-time champions Australia are next up for Team GB on Monday afternoon before taking on South Africa, the United States and Argentina.
“The key thing for us is to just take it game by time,” said Ansley. “Now we’ve done today, we’ve got to move on and take some confidence from the fact that we were in that game for most of it, nearly all of it, right until the end we had a chance with a minute left on the clock.
“So keep believing, trust the process.”
Sportsbeat 2024