Danielle Roche OAM (born 25 May 1970 in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

) is a former

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player, who was a member of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team, commonly known as the "Hockeyroos", which won the gold medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Personal

Roche was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on 25 May 1970. She is the daughter of Ken Roche, who was a hurdler at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

and won two

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

gold medals. She had a seven-year relationship with Australian model and television personality Deborah Hutton until their break up in December 2007.

Hockey career

Roche made her debut as a 19 year old for the Australian team in 1989 in the Australia vs New Zeaalnd series. She was a member of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team that won the gold medal at the

. She was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

hockey scholarship holder and played for MCC Hockey Club.

Business career

Roche has held finance and commercial positions with

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

, has been a Director at UBS, a partner at Evans and Partners. Roche is a Director of a privately owned fraud and risk management business.

Community leadership

In 2017, Roche was named Chair of the

National Australia Day Council The National Australia Day Council (NADC) is a non-profit social enterprise owned by the Australian Government and is the national coordinating body for the Australian of the Year awards and Australia Day. It was established in 1979 and inco ...

Sports administration

Roche was a

Hockey Australia Hockey Australia is an organisation that formed from the merger of the Australian Hockey Association and Women's Hockey Australia in 2000. It is the national body responsible for the promotion, development and administration of field hockey in A ...

Director for seven years until she was appointed to the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

Board in 2012. She was appointed to the

Australian Sports Commission The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as Sp ...

Board on 4 May 2016. Roche is a Trust Member of Victorian State Sports Centres. In March 2017, Roche announced that she was standing for the President of the

Australian Olympic Committee Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

. It was first time that John Coates has been challenged for the Presidency, a position held since 1990.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Danni 1970 births Living people Australian female field hockey players Field hockey players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players of Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) Olympic medalists in field hockey Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Field hockey players from Melbourne Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Australian LGBT sportspeople Lesbian sportswomen LGBT field hockey players 21st-century LGBT people