Kate Richardson-Walsh

Speaker

Kate Richardson-Walsh is the most capped GB  female hockey player ever and was captain of GB women’s hockey teams for 13 years.  She is a skilled and popular speaker, and an inspirational and charismatic leader, who has been widely credited for helping build the incredible team ethos and commitment which drove the GB team to a nail biting victory at the Rio Olympic Games.

A highly intelligent and experienced presenter she is more than happy to deliver keynote speeches on the themes of leadership and motivation, take part in Q&As, host and deliver team building hockey taster sessions.

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Kate Richardson-Walsh made both her England and Great Britain debuts in 1999 and has since gone on to play at the full range of international tournaments including four Summer Olympics, four Hockey World Cups and four Commonwealth Games.

In 2003 aged 23 years old Kate was made captain of the senior GB hockey team, a role she held for a further 13 years until her retirement in 2016.  As a defender she won a silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games held in her hometown of Manchester, and bronze at the 2007 EuroHockey Nations Championships.

In 2012 Summer Olympics, Kate was hit by a stick in the team's opening match against Japan and suffered a broken jaw, which was expected to end her journey in Olympic Games. However, after undergoing surgery and missing just three matches, she returned to play in their penultimate group game against China and captained the team to win the Bronze Medal.  In 2014 she captained the team to a disappointing 11th out of 12th place in the World Cup in The Hague.

Glasgow 2014 marked her fourth Commonwealth Games. Kate captained the team to a Silver medal and was also selected to be Team England's flag bearer for the closing ceremony.  Following the 2014 Glasgow games, Kate took a three-month sabbatical from international hockey, before returning at the end of the year and regaining her place in the team (and captaincy) via the development squad.  In 2015 Kate captained England to win the Unibet EuroHockey Championships against the Netherlands. After the match was drawn, 2-2, the Gold medal was secured in a shoot-out, with England winning 3-1.  She  became the most capped female in Great Britain on Saturday 20 February 2016 during test matches in Australia when she overtook Karen Brown who had 355 caps.

In 2016 Kate captained the women’s hockey team to their first gold medal at an Olympics. The team was undefeated throughout the tournament, beating the Netherlands in the final on penalties and she was selected to be the Team GB flag bearer at the closing ceremony for the Rio Olympics.

In winning gold Kate-Richardson Walsh also made history in other ways, becoming one half of the first same-sex married couple to win an Olympic medal playing in the same team. She is married to her team mate GB Helen Ricahrdson Walsh

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