The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced today the 16 players who will represent Team GB in men’s hockey at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The men’s hockey squad has risen consistently up the world rankings since the Olympic Games were awarded to London back in 2005. At the time, they were ranked 11th in the world. Since then the players have demonstrated huge progress to reach their current world ranking of fourth.
At the last Olympics in Beijing Team GB narrowly missed out on a place in the semi finals and finished the tournament in fifth position. At London 2012 they will have their sights firmly fixed on reaching the medal matches at the Riverbank Arena in the Olympic Park.
The selected athletes are: name (age; hometown; current club):
There is no shortage of international experience in the squad selected today, which contains 12 members of the England team which won European gold for the first time in 2009, beating Germany in the final.
Many of the squad were also involved as England won silver at the 2010 Champions Trophy and bronze at the 2011 EuroHockey Nations Championship. For seven of the squad, however, London 2012 will be their first taste of the Olympic Games.
Team GB have won Olympic gold in men’s hockey three times; at the first two tournaments in 1908 and 1920, and most recently at the Seoul 1988 Games.
Doncaster-born Barry Middleton, 28, will captain the side. To date, he has made 96 appearances for Great Britain, making him the sixth-most capped player in the team’s history.
The London Games will be the fifth Olympics in which Head Coach Jason Lee has been involved. He competed twice as a player, at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, and has led the squad as Head Coach into the last two Olympic campaigns at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
Team GB has been drawn in Pool A where they will face Australia, Spain, Pakistan, Argentina and South Africa. The top two ranked teams will progress to the semi-finals.
In preparation for the Games, the Team GB squad are scheduled to participate in a tri-nation event in Santander, Spain from July 14th-18th. There they will face their Spanish hosts – who won silver in Beijing – as well as eight-time Olympic champions India.
The addition of the men’s hockey players brings the total number of athletes officially selected to compete for Team GB at London 2012 to 362 across 29 sport disciplines: archery, athletics – marathon, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoe slalom, canoe sprint, cycling, diving, equestrian – dressage, equestrian – eventing, fencing, football – women, handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronised swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said:
Barry Middleton, captain, said:
Harry Martin said:
Ashley Jackson said:
Goalkeeper James Fair said: