Kate Richardson-Walsh



Kathrin Louise Richardson-Walsh MBE (née Walsh, born 9 May 1980) is an English field hockey player.

She is currently the captain for Great Britain and England. As an active sports person she is twice a winner of the Hockey Writers Club UK Player of the Year. In 2003 she was shortlisted for the World Player of the Year Award and in 2007 she was named Great Britain Hockey Athlete of the Year.

Richardson-Walsh was born in Withington, Manchester and attended Priestnall School in Stockport. She 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 three Summer Olympics, four Hockey World Cups and four Commonwealth Games. As a defender she has twice won medals at international tournaments at her hometown of Manchester — silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and bronze at the 2007 EuroHockey Nations Championships.

In 2012 Summer Olympics, Walsh 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 missing two matches she returned to play in their penultimate group game against China.

She has played club hockey for Reading in the England Hockey League Premier Division.

Walsh married Great Britain and England teammate Helen Richardson and both changed their last name thereafter.

Richardson-Walsh was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to hockey.

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.

Also in 2016 the British women’s field hockey team won gold at the Olympics; as Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh were both on that team, this made them the first same-sex married couple to win Olympic medals.