Rodrigo Garza Barbero (born 3 December 1979 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

) is a 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 ...

defender/midfielder from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. He represented his native country at three consecutive

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, starting in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Club career

After the Athens Games (2004), where the

finished in fourth position, Garza moved to

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, where he joined

HC Den Bosch Hockeyclub 's-Hertogenbosch, also known as Den Bosch, is a Dutch field hockey club based in 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant. It was founded on 14 July 1937. The first teams (men and women) both compete on the highest level of the Dutch field hocke ...

in the Dutch Premier League, called ''Hoofdklasse''. He moved on to national champions

HC Bloemendaal Hockey Club Bloemendaal (), commonly known as Bloemendaal, is a Dutch field hockey club based in Bloemendaal, North Holland. It was established on 26 April 1895, and is one of the oldest field hockey clubs in the Netherlands. Originally, the club a ...

in the spring of 2007, and became champion of premier Dutch league in the 2008 and 2009 season, winning also the European Hockey League in his last season with the club. Since September 2009 he played for HGC, a Dutch team near

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, which is also in the Dutch Premier League. Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, he started to play Hockey at his hometown school Colegio Valdeluz and then promoted through respective categories until reaching premier Spanish league "División de Honor" playing with San Pablo Valdeluz (later on

Ssang Yong The SsangYong Motor Company ( ko, 쌍용자동차 주식회사) is a South Korea–based automobile manufacturer. It traces its origins back to a manufacturer established in 1954. The name SsangYong appeared in 1988, after its acquisition by the ...

Valdeluz). He then moved to play for

Club de Campo Villa de Madrid Club de Campo Villa de Madrid is a country and sports club located in Madrid, Spain. The club was formed in 1929, and is one of the most known in the city. It has a wide array of sports facilities including two championship 18-hole golf courses, ho ...

before arriving to the Netherlands.

International career

Garza has been many times junior and senior champion and runner up in both field and indoor Hockey, participating in several Euro championships: Padova,

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 ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He has participated in two Hockey World Cups in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

and

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...

. He achieved a major success by winning the first Champions Trophy for Spain in 2004 at the National Hockey Stadium 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. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and ending runner up in 2008 edition celebrated in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

References

Spanish Olympic Committee

External links

* 1979 births Living people Spanish male field hockey players Male field hockey defenders Male field hockey midfielders Olympic field hockey players for Spain Field hockey players at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2008 Summer Olympics 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players Olympic silver medalists for Spain Field hockey players from Madrid Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Club de Campo Villa de Madrid players HC Den Bosch players HC Bloemendaal players HGC (field hockey) players Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate field hockey players {{Spain-fieldhockey-bio-stub