The British Olympic Association has today named the 16 women’s athletes who will be representing Team GB for hockey at the summer 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Kate Walsh will captain the women’s side.
12 of the selected players for the women’s squad were part of England’s team when they secured Olympic qualification on behalf of Great Britain by winning the bronze medal at the 2007 EuroHockey Nations Championships in Manchester last August. The additions to the squad include Charlotte Craddock, who at 17 years old will become the youngest ever athlete to represent Team GB for hockey at the Olympic Games, succeeding Russell Garcia who was 18.27 years-old when he played his first game at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Lisa Wooding and Bowdon Hightown’s Jo Ellis have also been brought into the squad along with Wales’s Sarah Thomas who plays her club hockey in The Netherlands. The squad’s early qualification has, according to Head Coach Danny Kerry, “allowed the group to have the longest GB preparatory phase ever.” He continued “As such we have been considering the nature of the GB squad since 2006 and assessing in earnest since January 2007 and today’s final squad announcement follows an exhaustive process which has included measuring players against the best teams in the world in testing climatic conditions.”
The squad will only be taking one goalkeeper to the Olympics with Beth Storry for the women’s.
Selection has been a tough task for both Head Coaches, with Lee commenting “Selection is always a difficult time, but it has been exceptionally difficult this time as all of the players competing for a position have put in exceptional effort during this phase, and I think they all deserve to go to the Olympics, but of course there is only a limited number who can.
Read team squad
