Olympic Games semi final brought to a halt after female star suffered sickening injury: 'So much blood'

A sickening injury saw the women's hockey semi-final halted in concerning scenes at the Olympic Games.

Joosje Burg of the Netherlands was stood a couple of feet from her opponent when a powerful shot hit her in the face during her nation's crunch clash with Argentina on Wednesday.

Blood rapidly streamed from the 27-year-old's head and she was left motionless on the ground as her teammates and medical staff raced to care for her.

TV broadcaster Eurosport chose not to show Burg on the floor, such was the severity of the injury.

Staff held bandages to her nose to stop the bleeding and the game was brought to a standstill for more than five minutes.

Burg eventually returned to her feet and, with the assistance of four medical staff, was able to walk from the field of play.

But play did not resume straightaway as efforts were made to remove blood that landed on the pitch. 

'They've got to try and stop the flow,' said the concerned commentary team on Eurosport. 'There's a lot of blood there.' 

WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT 

Joosje Burg suffered a sickening injury during the women's hockey semi-finals

The Netherlands star was hit square in the face by a powerful shot on Wednesday

Dutch beauty Burg, 27, was on the ground motionless for five minutes

She was patched up and resumed playing as the Netherlands won 3-0

In unbelievable scenes, the brave 27-year-old returned to the game after being patched up on the sidelines, but she was not allowed to wear her blood-covered jersey so donned a replacement.  

The new jersey did not have a number on the back so quick-thinking Dutch officials created a number out of tape in order for her to be identifiable by the referee. 

The Netherlands continued fighting for their teammate and ran out 3-0 winners in Paris. 

The all-conquering Dutch team will take on either Belgium or China in the gold medal match, the sixth-straight time they've competed in the final.