When Charlotte Craddock stepped
onto the Olympic Green hockey pitch in
CHARLOTTE CRADDOCK
Beijing to face Germany in GBs opening Date of Birth: 24/10/1990
match of the Olympics she made Lives: Wolverhampton
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instant history. She broke the record Born: Wolverhampton
set by Russell Garcia in Seoul 20 years Country of Birth: England
ago and became the youngest ever Club: Cannock
player to represent Great Britain at Occupation: Student
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hockey in the Olympics. The accolades
continued when she returned from
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China, when she won the prestigious pretty cool that I went to the Olympics
Female Student of the Year Award at and I’d like to hope that they enjoyed the
the Daily Telegraph-Norwich Union matches…
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School Sport Matters awards. We met
up with the teenager afterwards to fi nd What was the atmosphere like in
out what makes her tick. Beijing?
It was incredible to be there, it was like
How did you start playing hockey? nothing I could have imagined.
I started to play hockey properly when I The village was a lot bigger that I’d
was about seven – it was the sport that expected so that was a bit of a shock.
was played by my mum and dad and so I Team gB had one block to themselves
thought that I would give it a go. Hockey and hockey were in the section where
was also the only sport I liked to watch the medal table went up and when Team
properly when I was young so it was the gB started winning lots of medals that
sensible thing to do really! was exciting.
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When did you realise you were good? You had a stress fracture in your spine
One of my favourite hockey moments I earlier this year. What was that about?
remember from when I was young To be honest, I still don’t know how it
was scoring all six goals in a regional exactly happened and when I found out
match against the West and then about the fractures we were on a month-
scoring my fi rst junior England hat-trick long tour of Australia so it wasn’t my
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later on that year. This encouraged me favourite moment of 2008. But hockey
to play on. is lucky to have one of the best physio’s
in Ashleigh Wallace, and after about
Was there a fuss around you being GBs six weeks I started training again. With
youngest hockey Olympian? the help of everyone at Bisham Abbey, I
Well, if anyone spoke to me from the managed to recover in time.
media they made a little fuss of it but I
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didn’t think about it at all as hockey’s a Have you had any other injuries?
team sport so someone is always going I had a fracture dislocation of my right
to be the youngest in the team! ankle which has needed metal work
put in it. It happened in June 2006 when
What do your friends think about you I was asked to throw the discus and
making it to Beijing? my foot got caught on the ground and
They watched the hockey in the summer my body span 180 degrees on my foot
whereas I don’t think they would have that was caught on the ground – it was
watched it before! I think they think it’s extremely painful! I’ve been quite lucky
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Charlotte Craddock (centre) shoots against Australia
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