Helen Richardson-Walsh

James Keech, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

Helen Richardson-Walsh in 2011.
Picture from WikiCommons.

Helen Richardson-Walsh is one of the greatest hockey players to play for Great Britain. She was born in Hitchin in 1981, and she later moved to West Bridgford in Nottinghamshire. At a young age she began to play hockey and by the age of seven she had joined West Bridgford Hockey Club.

Helen Richardson-Walsh has played an important role in the success of the English and Great Britain Hockey teams. For England and Great Britain, she has played 293 times. She played at the Olympic Games of Sydney, Beijing, London, and Rio. At the Sydney Olympic games, she played when she was 18 years old, making her the youngest female hockey player to play at the Olympics for the Great British hockey team. In 2012 she would be part of a team that won a bronze medal and in 2016 she was part of the team that won the gold medal at the Olympics. With England she has won one silver and two bronze medals at the commonwealth games.

The gold medal at the 2016 Olympic games was a huge achievement. Just two years before in 2014 the team had not performed well in the Hockey world cup. As a result of this head Coach Danny Kerry, Helen Richardson-Walsh and other senior players made cultural and behavioural changes to team. According to her personal website “The shock of the World Cup set in motion a full-scale review, with a new coach and senior players working together to put in place team values and processes to create a winning culture within the squad”. As a result of implementing these changes, the Great British Hockey team performed well in the 2016 Olympics. They made it to the final against the Netherlands, a team which had won gold at the previous Olympics. In the game there was a deciding penalty shoot-out and Helen scored one of the penalties which won Great Britain the gold.

At club level, the first Hockey club she played for was Sherwood Hockey Clubs. After Sherwood she has played for Leicester Hockey Club, HC Den Bosch, Reading Hockey Club, HC Bloemendaal, Cambridge City Hockey Club and East Grinstead Hockey Club.

In 2008 she began a relationship with Kate Walsh who at the time was her Great Britain and England teammate. The two married in 2013 and they both changed their surnames to Richardson-Walsh. Together, they became the first same sex couple to win a gold medal on the same team. In 2019 she gave birth to the couple’s daughter Pfeiffer.

Helen Richardson-Walsh has had a career full of honours and success. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 the International Hockey Federation put her in World All Stars Team. In 2009 and 2010 the Hockey Writers’ Club declared her player of the year. As a sportswoman she has shown great mental strength having overcome injuries and depression. She continues to support LGBTQ+ causes as she is a patron of the Proud Lilywhites, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’s LGBT association. In public talks she speaks positively about diversity and inclusion. She has also received an MBE and OBE; the OBE was awarded at the same time as her wife making them the first same sex married couple to receive them together.

This page was added on 01/02/2022.

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