Martin looks to postives after missing out on bronze (From Kingston Guardian)

Old Loughtonians' Harry Martin takes positives from London 2012 Olympic Games experience despite narrowly missing out on a medal

6:20pm Saturday 11th August 2012 in Sport By Matt Bass

They say fourth is the worst place to finish in an Olympic competition and although Harry Martin was clearly disappointed to have done just that, he was able to point to the positives for Team GB.

The Old Loughtonians midfielder featured heavily for the host nation on Saturday but couldn’t prevent them falling to a 3-1 defeat to Australia in the bronze medal play-off match.

At just 19, Martin was the youngest member of the men’s Olympic hockey squad but he showed incredible maturity in his performances throughout the competition.

And while the tournament didn’t end how the youngster might have hoped it would, he stressed the team had moved forward and he will be looking to enjoy the Olympic experience again in four years time.

“We have made huge strides since Jason (Lee, Head Coach) took over, way before my time. Hopefully we can keep going in the right direction.

“I’m going to push for Rio and I want to get a medal there,” he explained.

“We are fourth in the world. At the end of the day we have got to take that.

“It is quite hard right now to think about it because I obviously loved it (competing at the Games). But right now I am feeling pretty down.”

Martin’s focus will switch to his studies in September as he heads off to university, but he stressed he will look to be on the podium in Rio de Janeiro.

Team GB were forced into the match with Australia following a 9-2 humbling at the hands of the Netherlands in the semi finals.

And although they were an improved force in this game, fortune seemed to be with the Australians as they moved to victory.

Simon Orchard put them in front before Iain Lewers levelled from a penalty corner shortly before the interval.

But Jamie Dwyer restored Australia’s advantage and a late effort from Kieran Govers secured them the bronze medal.

Martin explained however, that the squad were determined to put in solid performance following their Dutch disappointment.

“I think we had a point to prove after the semi. We came out and we gave it everything,” he continued.

“We were really disappointed. It was pretty hard that night and the morning after. But we knew we had to pick ourselves up and we had a job to do today.

“We tried our best but it just wasn’t good enough in the end.”

He added: “I think in the second half whoever got the first goal was going to be in a pretty strong position.

“Unfortunately they were a bit sharper than us and a bit quicker to the ball. Not much fell for us in the second half.”