Patricia ("Pat") Jean McKillop, ''née'' Fraser, and now Buckle also simply known as Pat McKillop (born July 15, 1956) 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 from

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, who was a member of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

that won the gold medal at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Because of the boycott led by the United States in protest of the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, only the Soviet team remained. The Soviets and international Olympic authorities then invited countries that had not qualified for the tournament. A late request was sent to the government of the African nation, which hastily assembled a team less than a week before the competition started. To everyone's surprise, they won. They defeated

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

4-0, drew 2-2 with

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, won 2-0 over the host

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, drew 1-1 with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and lastly trounced Austria 4-1 to claim Zimbabwe's only medal in the 1980 Games. McKillop was the co-top scorer of the tournament with six goals, including three penalty corners, tied with the Soviet Union's Natella Krasnikova. McKillop represented

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi r ...

in basketball. She played her club hockey for the

Bulawayo Athletic Club Bulawayo Athletic Club is a sports club in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The Bulawayo Athletic Club Ground is the 12,000-capacity stadium. History The club was founded in 1894. Cricket is the main sport played at the club, but tennis, bowls, squash and ...

and went on to coach the Zimbabwe Under-21 women’s team for three years, leading them to the

Women's Hockey Junior World Cup The Women's FIH Hockey Junior World Cup, formerly known as the Women's Hockey Junior World Cup, is the field hockey Junior World Cup competition for women, with the format for qualification and the final tournament similar to the men's. It is org ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1989. She has also represented Zimbabwe in

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Personal life

Patricia McKillop was married to

Collin Williams Collin Ray Williams (1 November 1961 – 24 April 2022) was a Zimbabwean cricketer. He played for Matabeleland in five first-class matches and one List A match. He was also the coach of Zimbabwe field hockey team. Personal life Collin W ...

who was a Zimbabwean first-class cricketer and a field hockey coach after getting divorce for her first marriage. She has three sons, all of whom have represented Zimbabwe in international-level sports. The eldest who was born after the first marriage,

Michael McKillop Michael Gerard McKillop (born 27 January 1990 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland) is an Irish middle distance runner. He competes in the T37 disability sport classification, as he has a mild form of cerebral palsy. He won the 800m title at the ...

, has captained the Zimbabwe men’s hockey team and also appeared in nine first-class cricket matches for

; next is Sean Williams who has played age level international hockey and international cricket for Zimbabwe; and last is Matthew Williams, who has captained Zimbabwe's national hockey team and played first class cricket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKillop, Patricia 1956 births Living people Sportspeople from Bulawayo Zimbabwean female field hockey players Olympic field hockey players of Zimbabwe Field hockey players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Zimbabwe Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics White Zimbabwean sportspeople Zimbabwean women's basketball players