Madeleine Clare Hinch, (born 8 October 1988), known as Maddie Hinch is an English

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 plays as a goalkeeper for Tilburg HC and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

national teams.

Club career

In 2021-22 she played club hockey in the Dutch Hoofdklasse for Tilburg Hockey Club. Hinch has also played club hockey for Dutch club SCHC, Exmouth,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and Holcombe.

International career

She began playing hockey after a schoolteacher spotted her catching and diving talents in a game of rounders. Initially she was not overly keen on playing in goal and suffered a number of rejections as a youngster, but persevered and won a Youth Olympic Games medal. She made her full international debut in 2008, but narrowly missed out on a place in the Great Britain squad for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. She soon took over as number one choice and won the silver medal for England at the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In 2015, she enjoyed a breakthrough year, saving a penalty to ensure England won the EuroHockey Championships in London, then being nominated for FIH Goalkeeper of the Year. In 2016, she played in her first Olympic games, surpassing 100 international appearances during the

Rio 2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. She won an Olympic gold medal in Rio in 2016, saving all four penalties in the final shoot-out against The Netherlands. Her outstanding performance was widely credited in the media as the deciding factor in the game's outcome. She won a bronze medal at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. In September 2018, she decided to step aside from the national team, expressing her will to get back in the near future. On 16 May 2019 it was announced that she had re-joined the England & GB Central Programme In 2022 she won a gold medal at the

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 ...

Education

Hinch was privately educated at the independent

King's College, Taunton (Strong and faithful) , established = 1880 , closed = , type = Independent day and boarding , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

from 2002 to 2007. She has a degree in Sport & Exercise Science from

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

References

External links

* Living people Field hockey players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games 1988 births Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England English female field hockey players Female field hockey goalkeepers Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players of Great Britain British female field hockey players Commonwealth Games medallists in field hockey Members of the Order of the British Empire Expatriate field hockey players English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands SCHC players Holcombe Hockey Club players Loughborough Students field hockey players Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Field hockey players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games {{England-fieldhockey-bio-stub