On the day the Olympic Flame arrives in the UK, the British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced the selection of the 100th athlete to Team GB, with the announcement of the 16 athletes who will represent Team GB in women’s hockey at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Since the 2008 Olympic Games, Team GB hockey athletes have won medals at eight major World or European competitions. The run of success includes England’s bronze medal victories in the World Cup, European Championships, Commonwealth Games and Champions Trophy, Scotland’s bronze medal at the Champions Challenge and European Championships II and Great Britain’s recent silver medal at the Champions Trophy.
The team will be looking to improve on their sixth place finish at the last Olympics in Beijing and inspire the nation by challenging for a medal in London this summer. They are currently ranked fourth in the world, having enjoyed a consistent rise up the rankings from 11th over the past six years under the leadership of Head Coach Danny Kerry.
Great Britain won the Olympic test event at the Riverbank Arena in the Olympic Park earlier this month; beating world number two team Argentina in the final, just three months after losing to the World Champions 1-0 in the final of the Champions Trophy.
The squad, which includes players from Scotland, Wales and England, was announced at the London Stock Exchange on Friday morning. Captain Kate Walsh was responsible for officially opening market trading.
The selected athletes are: (Name, born, hometown, age)
Two reserve athletes are:
The addition of the 16 women’s hockey players brings the total number of athletes officially selected to Team GB for London 2012 to 101 across eight sport disciplines: archery, athletics – marathon, boxing, canoe slalom, hockey, sailing, swimming and synchronised swimming.
The athletes were formally nominated to the BOA for selection to Team GB by Great Britain Hockey, the National Governing Body for hockey in the UK.
Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said:
Team GB Women’s Hockey Head Coach Danny Kerry said:
Great Britain Hockey Performance Director David Faulkner said:
Team GB Women’s Hockey Captain Kate Walsh said:
Alex Danson said:
Helen Richardson said:
Laura Bartlett said: