Chloe Rogers (middle, number 12) celebrates with her teammates after Great Britain win the Bronze medal match at the London 2012 Olympic hockey tournament, at the Riverbank Arena.

UTTLESFORD Olympian Chloe Rogers has spoken of her delight at winning a bronze medal at her home Olympics.

Chloe Rogers (left) celebrates Alex Danson's opening goal in Team GB's 3-1 victory over New Zealand in the Bronze medal match.

The former Helena Romanes School student played a vital role as Team GB’s women’s hockey team beat New Zealand 3-1 in the third and fourth place play-off at the Riverbank Arena today (Friday).

Speaking to the Broadcast afterwards, Rogers said: “It’s absolutely fantastic. It’s been a long time coming. We were gutted to not be in the final, our aim was to win gold.

“But you’re always happy to take any medal. We’ve had seven tough games in two weeks and it’s a battle to get into the medal matches.

“We started strong and didn’t worry about not scoring any goals in the first half. We’ve got fantastic team spirit and we pride ourselves on being one of the fittest teams in the world.

“In this heat, I think that showed.”

Rogers, who hails from Barnston, said she had received plenty of messages of support and congratulations from friends and family back home.

“People from Chelmsford, Dunmow, Bishop’s Stortford and Braintree have all been in touch – old friends and old teachers.

“It’s been fantastic to be a part of it. From what I’ve heard there has been a great spirit in London.”

Great Britain bounced back from an agonising 2-1 defeat to Argentina in Wednesday’s semi-final to win a medal for only the second time in history – an achievement Rogers said illustrated her teammates’ heart.

“This team has got guts. We’ve won a lot of bronzes at Commonwealth Games, World Cups, Champions Trophies. We’ve battled back after losing in semi-finals. We were not going to give up.

“We’ve been building for a long time. Hockey was on a downer in 2004 but hopefully we can take this on to the next Olympics.

“As long as we inspire the next generation and put hockey on the map,” Rogers added.

Second half goals from Alex Danson, Crista Cullen and Sarah Thomas were enough to give Britain a convincing win – despite Stacey Michelsen pulling one back for New Zealand late on.

It is a medal at the second attempt for Rogers, who was part of the team that finished sixth at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The only other time Team GB’s women’s team have won a medal was in Barcelona in 1992, where they also picked up a bronze.

The 27-year-old now plans to relax and saviour the historic achievement after an exhausting couple of weeks.

“I definitely need a break. It’s well-earned and we’ll see when we’ll pick up a stick again!”

Rogers is the second Olympian from Uttlesford to claim an Olympic medal, with Elsenham-based showjumper Ben Maher winning a gold in the team event on Monday.