Women’s hockey captain Kate Richardson-Walsh admits England’s European triumph has given Team GB added belief they can compete for the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
England ended a 24-year title drought in August when they were crowned EuroHockey champions after coming from behind to beat The Netherlands in a penalty shootout.
And Walsh hopes the women can do what the men did at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988 and return from Brazil with a hockey gold medal.
"We've all taken massive confidence from the European success and I think it's raised the bar for us actually," Richardson-Walsh told SportNews News HQ.
"Now we're pushing ourselves harder and higher than we ever had done before. The Olympic Games is a massive tournament and we want to go over there and do ourselves proud.
Coach Danny Kerry is confident his side will prove to be difficult opponents for any of the side's in next year's competition in Rio.
He said: "We hadn't actually won a gold medal since 1991 so it just adds that little bit of belief that we need to convert a lot of our semi-finals and finals into gold medals.
"I think in Rio there are probably about six or seven teams that can come home with one of the medals and we are definitely in that ball park. Ultimately, we are well-supported, we have got a really good training group and I think we will be hard to beat in Rio."
Goalkeeper Maddie Hinch added: "Now that we have had that gold medal winning feeling it really gives us that extra per cent to push on every day in training in the lead up to Rio, because I certainly want to go through that experience all over again."
