Hello! Women's Hockey Squad Interview

TEAM GB CELEBRATIONS CONTINUE

WOMEN’S HOCKEY SQUAD STILL FLYING HIGH AS THEY TELL HOW THEY BECAME WORLD BEATERS IN RIO

GB’s victorious hockey team walk down the golden steps from flight BA2016 to a heroes’ reception in London.

Double gold-winning gymnast Max 66 Whitlock and gold medal boxer Nicola Adams clap the team from the top step

‘Winning means you are willing to go longer, work harder and give more than anyone else’

Some of GB women’s hockey squad get a sport-luxe makeover: (standing, from left) Sarah Robertson, Alex Danson, Joie Leigh, Maddie Hinch, Lily Owsley, Kate Richardson-Walsh and Georgie Twigg; and (sitting, from left) Sophie Bray, Sam Quek and Hollie Webb. It’s trolley hockey sticks (inset, left) for Sam and Laura Unsworth who pose as cabin crew to serve champagne to fellow athletes on the flight home heir journey from hockey sticks to high style T is a story of blood, sweat and tears. And with a thrilling Olympic gold-medal win under their

The girls let their hair down by singing a rowdy rendition of the national anthem before take-off and sipping champagne with fellow Team GB gold medallists, including swimmer Adam Peaty, gymnast Max Whitlock and triathlete Alistair Brownlee.

“My friend kept saying, ‘Who wants another drink?’ so I asked one of the crew, ‘Can I borrow your trolley and outfit?’ and started serving people myself,” says Sam. “I was gutted when I had to eventually sit down because we’d made the crew an hour late for serving dinner.” hello! caught up with three of the victorious team shortly after they returned home to hear about their remarkable win…

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belts, Team GB’s women’s hockey team received a rapturous welcome when they touched down in London from Rio last week.

Goalkeeper Maddie Hinch knows exactly what it took for her team to triumph. “Winning means you are willing to go longer, work harder and give more than anyone else,” she says.

When the final against defending champions the Netherlands ended in a nail-biting penalty shootout, Maddie saved four goals as her teammates scored two to secure the nation’s 24th gold at the Games.

The hockey women put their success down to strong teamwork and team spirit. “Sixteen of us got gold medals but we are a team of 19,” defender Sam Quek tells hello!. “We flew out with three reserves who worked just as hard in training as we did.”

So when it came to who sat in First Class, reserved for gold medallists on the British Airways flight home – a gold-nosed plane named victoRIOus – the answer was simple.

“We took a team decision to stay together and sit in Economy Plus,” says Sam. “We’re glad we did because that’s where the partying went on.

Athletes were coming down from First Class to join us, saying, ‘It’s too quiet down there.’”

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‘My boyfriend told me to get my act together’

SAM QUEK, 27

Position: Defender Partner: Businessman ust moments after Tom Mairs receiving her gold Lives: Marlow, Berkshire medal in Rio, defender Sam Quek was brought and the Wirral

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sharply back down to earth when she was told that her beloved grandmother had suffered a debilitating stroke days earlier.

“My family didn’t tell me about what had happened until after the final,” says Sam. “I was so upset but relieved that Nanna had pulled through to see me win gold.

After the stroke she was barely conscious and couldn’t move her arms or speak, so my sister Maxine helped her to put some headphones on to listen to the commentary during our matches. Apparently she regained some consciousness when she heard my name.”

On returning to London, Sam immediately flew to Manchester to be by her gran’s side. “I went straight to the hospital with my medal because I wanted to dedicate it to Nanna. She has given me wise words all her life and has always been a big inspiration.

When I first started living on my own near the England training camp I used to phone her and talk about how lonely I was. She would tell me what it was like for her as an evacuee during the war and helped me to see that there is always someone worse off.”

Sam says she owes much of her success to her mum Marilyn and dad Albert.

“They have been there for me since day one, taxiing me around and standing on the sidelines. As a teenager I went through a phase of not wanting to get out of bed so my dad bought a tambourine and would stand outside my bedroom door banging it.

On returning from Rio, Sam took some golden inspiration to her grandmother (right) who is recovering from a stroke. The defender leads the pitch invasion (below) as Team GB win their thrilling final against the Netherlands

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“At one stage my parents were driving me to play for Tranmere Rovers under-14 football squad. After training I would change into my Chester hockey kit and off we’d go again.”

TOUGH LOVE After injuries and missed selections left her in a “dark place”, Sam almost didn’t make the Olympic squad.

“Last year I wasn’t even close to qualifying and felt like giving up,” she explains. “I was really down. I’d missed out on two previous Olympic selections and felt embarrassed that I might miss a third.

“It was my boyfriend Tom who sat me down one day and told me I needed to get my act together. After that I trained like I’d never trained before and became one of the fittest and strongest players around.

I adopted the saying: ‘Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.’ And eventually I made it.”

For now, Sam is savouring her gold medal win and enjoying time with her family.

“I just want to go to the park and play with my new nephew. I also love horse racing so I’ll be going to some meetings and Tom and I are going to New York.”

Asked whether a wedding is on the horizon, she laughs: “I’ve dropped enough hints – we’ll have to see. We’ll let hello! know if it happens.”

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS: CAMERA PRESS. GETTY IMAGES. MADDIE HINCH. SOLO SYNDICATION

addie Hinch’s skill in blocking all four M Dutch penalties in the Olympic final sealed her reputation for being one of the best

goalkeepers of her generation. But she is baffled by her newfound fame, telling hello!: “I was on a train today with [teammates] Kate Richardson-Walsh and her wife Helen and every single person recognised us. It’s mad because I’m the one who wears the helmet.”

Maddie believes her grounded upbringing by her dad Neil, a former Royal Navy commander and physical training instructor, and mum Catherine, a nurse, has provided her with the traits needed to succeed in life.

She said: “After they retired Mum and Dad ran a nursing home and my brother and I would often be called in to do toilet-cleaning shifts. We all know what hard work looks like.”

Maddie, who studied for a degree in sport and exercise science at Loughborough University, says having a brother also helped keep her feet on the ground.

“I was a tomboy, always in the garden with Lewis, kicking a ball around. I wasn’t the sort of girl who was fazed by bugs or creepy-crawlies.”

As a goalie, preparation is key and Maddie leaves as little to chance as possible, documenting in a notebook how her opponents tend to score in shootouts. She also scribbles notes on her water bottle. Before the final she wrote: “Relax, hands up, chin out… STAY BIG!!”

“I’ve been working with a psychologist for a long time on a concept that allows me to play my best when I act big. It’s taken hours and hours but I even perfected a swagger,” she says.

“It allowed me to believe I was 7ft tall and 6ft wide when I came out to defend against those penalties. I wanted the Dutch to be intimidated and I think it worked.”

As a reward for her hard work, she is planning to treat herself to a Mulberry handbag. And after settling in to her new hockey club – ironically, Stichtse Cricket en Hockey Club in Utrecht, the Netherlands – she will head to South Africa to soak up some sun.

“Three of the girls in the Dutch team we beat in the final are going to be at my new club,” she says. “It’s very awkward. I hope we can be friends.

I leave for Holland this week but until then I’m going to be watching movies on my sofa with a nice cup of tea – that’s my favourite thing to do.”

‘I perfected a swagger to defend against those penalties’

MADDIE ‘MAD DOG’ HINCH, 27

Position: Goalkeeper Partner: Currently single Lives: Maidenhead, Berkshire

All smiles in victory: Maddie beams with her gold medal (left).

Though “always a tomboy”, she is looking forward to rewarding herself with a Mulberry handbag eorgie Twigg clutches her gold G medal in disbelief. “I need to cling on to it,” says the midfielder. “It’s

still quite surreal. Holding it makes me so proud.”

A little over a week after her victory, Georgie is preparing to join international law firm Bird & Bird. “I’m currently undecided Position: Midfielder about my hockey so Partner: GB men’s hockey for now I’m going to focus on my legal player Iain Lewers career,” she says.

Lives: Fulham, Georgie describes

GEORGIE TWIGG, 25

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herself as a “girly girl” off the pitch – she delights in wearing pearl earrings, getting her nails done and perfecting her lemon drizzle cake – but she is fearless in a match. Indeed, in Britain’s brutal semi-final against New Zealand, she was hit in the face by the ball only to return minutes later with stitches.

“I’m probably one of the most competitive people out there so when I was getting stitched up all I could think about was running back on the pitch,” she says.

According to Georgie, captain Kate Richardson-Walsh deserves much of the credit for the team’s victory: “She

is a phenomenal woman. She leads from the front. She is the hardest trainer and she is caring.”

Among Georgie’s Rio souvenirs are selfies with Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and New Zealand rugby legend Sonny Bill Williams.

“Before [Rio] my younger brother Charlie told me to look out for famous athletes. I told him, ‘I have to play it cool, I’m out there for the same reasons they are.’ In the end,” H she smiles, “I couldn’t resist.”

INTERVIEWS: SHARON HENDRY PHOTOS: CAMERA PRESS/PIP

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