Fatima Moreira de Melo (born 4 July 1978) is a former Dutch

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 and professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player of Portuguese descent. She has played 191 international matches for the

Dutch national team Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

, where she has scored 30 times. De Melo's debut match was on 21 October 1997 against Germany, which ended in a 2–1 victory for The Netherlands. She plays on the position of

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. In the Dutch national competition she has played for Tempo '34,

HGC HGC can stand for: * Human Genetics Commission * Hercules Graphics Card * H.O.C. Gazellen-Combinatie, a Dutch field hockey club * HGC Global Communications, an internet service provider in Hong Kong * HGC (field hockey) H.O.C. Gazellen-Combinatie, ...

and HC Rotterdam. De Melo was part of the Dutch squad that became World Champion at the

2006 Women's Hockey World Cup The 2006 Women's Hockey World Cup was the 11th edition of the Women's Hockey World Cup field hockey tournament. It was held from 27 September to 8 October 2006 in Madrid, Spain. The Netherlands won the tournament for the sixth time after defeat ...

and which won the 2007 Champions Trophy. In December 2006, she became Rotterdam Sportswoman of the Year and became the new face of the Rabobank in their Dutch TV advertisements. At the

2008 Summer Olympics 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 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, she won an Olympic gold medal with the

beating

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the final 2–0. Besides playing field hockey, de Melo also studied at the Erasmus University Rotterdam where she obtained an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree in

Criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

in 2006. She furthermore has presented TV programs for both local and national TV stations. She also has a

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

as a singer. She performed the theme song for the

International Hockey Federation The Fédération Internationale de Hockey (English: International Hockey Federation), commonly known by the acronym and initialism, acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are i ...

's ''International Year of the Youth'' at the closing of the 2001 Men's World Cup Hockey Qualifier in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. De Melo's father is a Portuguese diplomat stationed in the Netherlands. Her boyfriend is pro-tennis player

Raemon Sluiter Raemon Sluiter (born 13 April 1978) is a Dutch former professional tennis player and current coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking is World No. 46, achieved in February 2003. Though he achieved only limited success during his professional ...

. De Melo belonged to the Team PokerStars: Sportstars, and one could find her playing tournaments behind the nickname FatimaDeMelo on the PokerStars online poker card room. She left her role as Sporting Icon Pro in early 2020.

References

External links

*
Official site for her music career
* * *
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreira De Melo, Fatima 1978 births Living people Dutch female field hockey players Dutch people of Portuguese descent Female poker players Field hockey players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic field hockey players for the Netherlands Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in field hockey Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Sportspeople from Rotterdam HGC (field hockey) players HC Rotterdam players