Elspeth Denning ( OAM) (née Swain, also known as Elspeth Denning-Clement and Elspeth Clement-Denning) a former Western Australian

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. She was born in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

on 19 June 1956 and moved with her family to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

when she was six. She played representative hockey for Western Province before moving to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 1975.''W.A. Hall of Champions'' inductee booklet. (2006) Published by the Western Australian Institute of Sport p.28 As a member of the

Hockeyroos The Australia women's national field hockey team (nicknamed the Hockeyroos) are, as of January 2019, ranked third in the world. Having played their first game in 1914, and their first Olympic game in 1984, they are one of Australia's most succes ...

, she represented Australian in 101 matches between 1978 and 1988. She was selected for Olympic squads in 1980 (Moscow), 1984 (Los Angeles) and 1988 (Seoul). In 1988 she was vice-captain in Australia's gold medal win, and was rated as the outstanding player of the meet. In domestic hockey, Denning represented Western Australia from 1976 to 1988.

Awards

In 1989 she was awarded the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

medal and was voted

Western Australian Sports Star of the Year The Western Australian Sports Star Award, currently known as ''The West Australian'RACSports Star Award, is an annual award for sportspeople from the Australian state of Western Australia and/or playing for teams based in Western Australia. It has ...

. In 1996 she was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions. in 2005 she was inducted into the

Hockey WA Hockey WA is the organisation responsible for the sport of Field Hockey in the state of Western Australia. Hockey WA is represented in the Hockey One competition by the Perth Thundersticks. Hockey WA also run the top club competitions in Austral ...

Hall of Champions

References

External links

* 1956 births Australian female field hockey players Australian people of British descent Kenyan emigrants to Australia White Kenyan people White South African people Field hockey players from Perth, Western Australia Olympic field hockey players of Australia Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in field hockey Living people Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics {{Australia-fieldhockey-bio-stub