Less than three weeks since the disappointment of the Olympics, Sarah Robertson is ready to pick up a hockey stick again.
The Borderer is still properly processing Team GB’s exit at the quarter-final stage and the team’s first Games without a medal since 2008 – and more on that later – but those reflections have been parked for a few days as she prepares to lead Scotland into a vital home series.
Victory over Austria at the national hockey centre in Glasgow this afternoon will tee the Scots up for a final against either Czechia or Wales tomorrow, with the small matter of a place at next summer’s EuroHockey Championships in Germany at stake for the winners.
In an ideal world, Robertson and her fellow GB team-mates - Amy Costello, Charlotte Watson and Jess Buchanan – would have enjoyed a longer break after returning from Paris but, given the significance of this tournament, there was no chance of the captain not reporting for duty with so much on the line.
“It does feel pretty soon after the Olympics but it’s nice to be back playing in Scotland again,” she says. “I couldn’t say no to that opportunity and I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead. You’d like to think Scotland would still have been able to qualify without us but the fact that all four of us wanted to play to make sure we had the strongest team possible underlines how significant this is.
“It’s really important that Scotland gets another chance to play top level European hockey next summer so we need to get the job done this weekend. Scottish Hockey have sold more than 600 tickets for each day and they’re expecting a lot more to turn up on the day which is terrific. We don’t get to play many competitive games in Scotland and it will be nice to have friends and family coming out to watch us hopefully come out on top”.
Robertson was part of the GB side that won bronze at the previous Olympics in Tokyo, adding to the bronze her predecessors collected in London in 2012 and the gold clinched in 2016. Those triumphs helped create an external expectation that the women would go on to make the podium at every future Games but Robertson reveals that wasn’t an accurate reflection of the team’s form going into Paris.
“We’re obviously disappointed with how far we went in the tournament but, equally, I’m not convinced that the way we played in the build-up merited any more than that,” she admits with admirable candour. “It wasn’t like we massively underperformed. I think we showcased the level that we were at and it got shown that that wasn’t enough.
“People from the outside maybe have those expectations [that GB women's hockey will medal at every Olympics] but those who follow the team closely and saw us playing in the build-up knew it was more of an outside chance. Everything had to align perfectly for us to get a medal and it definitely didn’t.
“We lost to Spain in the group and that led to us playing Holland in the quarter-finals - you’re then playing the best team in the world in a knockout match. And anyone who had been following it closely would have known we weren’t one of the best three teams in the world.”
Off the field, it was a much happier experience for Robertson after the Covid restrictions of the Games in Tokyo in 2021.
“Overall the experience was amazing – to get picked to go and to play in it,” she adds. “To be able to soak up the atmosphere and play in front of those crowds was brilliant. That was one of the reasons I wanted to push for Paris. Tokyo was an amazing experience and we had success on the pitch but you never really got to have that full Olympics moment which is why I wanted to push on for another one. I’m really grateful I got that chance.”
Being presented with her 100th GB cap – and a bouquet of flowers - by Andy Murray was another special moment. “I knew he was going to there that day as we had been speaking to him and he told us he would be bringing his daughter. But I never thought I’d be on the pitch with him for the presentation. That was a nice touch from a Scottish legend.”
Robertson turns 31 next month and will spend some time Down Under to think about her long-term future. Whether the 2026 Commonwealth Games go ahead or not will likely be a factor, plus, hopefully, the chance to play in the Euros next summer should everything go well this weekend.
“I’m going to play hockey in Australia for the rest of the year so that will be a different experience,” she reveals. “And then I’ll come back, take stock and look at what the calendar looks like. We’re still up in the air about the Commonwealth Games and that will form part of my decision-making process too.”
