Kym Ireland

Kym Ireland (born 25 October 1955) is a former Australian field hockey player.

Ireland represented Australia as part of the Australia women's national field hockey team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[1] Ireland was the team's goalkeeper. It was the first time The Hockeyroos represented Australia at an Olympic Games.[2]

Placing fourth overall, the team did not medal. However, one of the highlights of Ireland's performance at the 1984 Olympics was stopping eleven shots from Beth Anders' twelve attempts at goal in Australia's victory over America.[3]

Ireland returned to her hometown of Rockhampton, Queensland in 2013 after spending fifteen years in Brisbane, Queensland where she coached at schools and hockey clubs.[4]

Upon returning to Rockhampton, she began coaching local hockey team, Park Avenue Brothers.[5]

Not long after her return to Rockhampton, Ireland discovered that a Ukrainian artist living in the city had painted a life-sized portrait of her, along with twenty other Olympians. The artist had painted the portraits in 2004 but had decided to start selling the items. Ireland bought the painting of herself for $30.[6] The painting had been previously displayed with the others in Rockhampton's historic Customs House during the 2008 Summer Olympics.[7]

In 2014, Ireland said she was disappointed in the way that Kookaburra Jamie Dwyer, also from Rockhampton, was told he wouldn't be competing in the 2014 Commonwealth Games after he was told in an email that he was axed from the team.[8] Ireland said such a procedure was wrong and needed to be addressed.[9]

References
  1. Kym Ireland (AUS), olympic.org, retrieved 10 October 2016
  2. Saluting Olympic Legends, The Morning Bulletin, 19 June 2012, retrieved 10 October 2016
  3. FIELD HOCKEY, AP, New York Times, 8 August 1984, retrieved 10 October 2016
  4. Gimme that good hard Rocky hockey, says former Olympian, Maree Curran, The Morning Bulletin, 15 February 2013, retrieved 10 October 2016
  5. Local Hockey Club Welcomes Olympian, Kickstart CQ, 14 February 2013, retrieved 10 October 2016
  6. Olympian finds out she has a double in Rockhampton, Austin King, The Morning Bulletin,12 August 2013, retrieved 10 October 2016
  7. Olympians on display Archived 13 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Jacquie Mackay, Breakfast, ABC Capricornia, 15 August 2008, retrieved 10 October 2016
  8. Jamie Dwyer left out of Kookaburras' Commonwealth Games squad for Glasgow, ABC News, 24 June 2014, retrieved 10 October 2016
  9. Rocky hero's axing shocks a fellow hockey champion, Pam McKay, The Morning Bulletin, 5 July 2014, retrieved 10 October 2016
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