Natascha Keller (born 3 July 1977 in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

) is a German 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 ...

striker. She won a gold medal as a member of the German team at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She also competed at the

1996 Summer 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, ...

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 1999 she received an award from 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 ...

. She is the daughter of retired Olympic field hockey player Carsten Keller and granddaughter of player Erwin Keller. Her brothers

Andreas Keller Andreas Keller (born 1 October 1965) is a former field hockey player from West Germany, who competed at three Summer Olympics for his native country. He won the gold medal with Germany at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, after securing silv ...

and

Florian Keller Florian Keller (born October 3, 1981 in Berlin) is a field hockey player from Germany and the brother of Natascha Keller. He was a member of the Men's National Team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olymp ...

, like her father and herself, were on gold medal winning field hockey teams. Keller has accumulated over 400 games for the

Germany women's national field hockey team The Germany women's national field hockey team has represented the unified Germany since 1991. The team won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, by defeating the Netherlands in the final. Tournament records Team Curr ...

, which makes her the country's most

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

female player in history. Keller was the

flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a f ...

for

Germany at the 2012 Summer Olympics Germany competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics after its reunification in 1990. The German Olympic Sports Confederation (german: Deu ...

, becoming the first field hockey athlete being honoured this way.

Literature

* National Olympics Committee for Germany: ''Die deutsche Olympiamannschaft. Athen 2004.'' Frankfurt am Main 2004

References

External links

* 1977 births Living people German female field hockey players Olympic field hockey players for Germany Field hockey players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Germany Field hockey players from Berlin People from East Berlin Olympic medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin 20th-century German women 21st-century German women {{Germany-fieldhockey-Olympic-medalist-stub