Pablo "Pol" Amat Escudé (born 18 June 1978 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Spain) is a Spanish retired

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 played as a striker. In 2008 he was awarded World Hockey Player of the Year, becoming the first Spaniard to win the award.

Career

National team

Amat made his international debut at the age of 17 in 1995 before being selected for the

Atlanta 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, ...

in 1996. That year, Spain won silver with Amat playing alongside legends such as Juan Escarré and

Javier Arnau Xavier ("Xavi") Arnau Creus (born 20 March 1973 in Terrassa, Catalonia) is a former field hockey player from Spain. He won the silver medal with the men's national team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The striker also particip ...

. After competing for

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in both the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympics, he won another silver medal in

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. He was also part of the Spanish team at 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 ...

. The striker won his first major title with the Spaniards at the 2004 Champions Trophy in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. Arguably Amat's finest hour came in the final of the 2005 European Nations Cup. With Spain trailing

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2–1, Santi Freixa grabbed an equaliser with less than three minutes to go. The stage was set for Amat, who produced two goals in less than a minute to seal a 4–2 victory, giving Spain a title that had eluded them for 31 years. Amat also scored a memorable golden goal at the 2006 World Cup when he brilliantly flicked the ball over the South Korean goalkeeper to claim the bronze medal for Spain.

References

External links