The Australia women‘s national field hockey team (nicknamed Hockeyroos) are Australia’s national women‘s hockey team.
Having played their first game in 1914,they are one of Australia’s most successful sporting teams, boasting three Olympic Gold Medals from the past six Games as well as winning two World Cups (1994, 1998) and three Commonwealth Games Gold Medals (1998, 2006, 2010).
The Hockeyroos have been crowned Australia’s Team of the Year five times and were unanimously awarded Best Australian Team at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
A notable part of the Hockeyroos colourful history has involved Ric Charlesworth. Charlesworth was at the helm of the Hockeyroos from 1993 to 2000, where his reign as coach saw the team win the 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999 Champions Trophies, 1994 and 1998 World Cups and the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Most famously Charlesworth took the Hockeyroos to the Atlanta and Sydney Olympic Games where the team won back-to-back Gold medals.
Given the extent of the Hockeyroos success, the team has consistently remained at the top of the World Hockey Rankings. From the late 1980s until 2000, the Australian team was ranked at number 1 in the world. Only once during this period, the Hockeyroos failed to win a tournament, on which occasion they finished 2nd.
With their sights firmly set on the 2012 London Olympics the future is bright for Australia’s brightest hockey stars.