Whole world in her hands
Giselle Ansley gears up for England hockey’s big new year
Olympic success, Giselle Ansley says, was about far more than the gold medal hanging around her neck. It was about more than the triumph of Rio and the subsequent celebrity appearances, more than the fame and the glory and the newfound recognition of a sport that had for so long failed to scratch the surface of public interest.
The target was something deeper, something less tangible but just as important. “We had a vision, as a team, of creating history,” she says.
“Inspiring the future and being the difference. That was what we wanted to make sure we lived by every day. Ultimately, we wanted to leave a lasting legacy and part of that was about getting more people playing hockey. If we could get just one kid to pick up a stick then that was part of it.”
More than 16 months have now passed since Ansley helped Great Britain’s women to their first Olympic hockey gold medal, secured so memorably with a penalty shoot-out victory over Holland.
In the weeks that followed, with the post-Olympic publicity vehicle whirring into top gear, Ansley’s team-mates such as Sam Quek starred on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Hollie Webb appeared on a Strictly Come Dancing special and Kate Richardson-Walsh and Maddie Hinch graced the sofa on The Jonathan Ross Show. The sport was positively luxuriating in the spotlight and, all of a sudden, these were household names.
Gradually, though, the excitement began to fade, even if the memory of their success remains imprinted on the national sporting psyche.
The post-Rio hockey hubbub has eventually settled down, allowing players like Ansley, 25, to take a breath, step back and see what has really changed.
Thankfully, there is concrete evidence of her own, individual impact. It can be found at Plymouth Marjon University in the shape of the Ansley Academy Pitch, the playing area constructed in her name and in response to the post-Olympic surge in interest.
“After Rio there were so many people wanting to play hockey that they could not fit everyone on the pitch,” Ansley says. “So they had to apply to get a second pitch put down. I went back to do some coaching and to see two pitches full of kids is just unheard of.”
To see the pitch and to hear of the number of people who had turned up, sticks in hand, at the club where she used to play was, she says, little short of “crazy”. But the job is not done.
“It was important for us to keep doing that after the Olympics, to keep going out to schools and clubs and getting people involved,” she says. “It’s still going. It’s relentless. It was huge for the sport and you want to maximise what you can from the success that you have had.”
Or, indeed, the success that is still to come. In July, the women’s Hockey World Cup will take place at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre at the Olympic Park in East London, and tickets to all of England’s pool games, potential quarter-final, semi-final and final are sold out.
“We want the public to see the World Cup in London as a big deal,” says Ansley, who made her 100th appearance for England in August. “People will jump on the back of the football World Cup, but why not hockey?” Those ticket sales are indicative, again, of that all-important Rio legacy.
The pressure is therefore on the England team’s shoulders not only to maintain the hype, but also to continue enjoying success on the pitch.
“What we have to remember is that success will keep the interest,” Ansley says. “We have to keep winning, we have to keep performing on the big stage. That is a huge focus for the squad now. We have the Commonwealth Games and then we have the World Cup.”
They failed to hit the same heights in 2017 as they did in 2016, but there is still cause for optimism among a squad infused with new faces over the past 12 months. England claimed bronze medals in both the European Championships and the World League semi-finals this year, and narrowly lost to South Korea in the bronze medal match at the World League final in New Zealand last month.
“Rio has given me even more motivation,” Ansley says. “I want to go and do it again, but it’s going to be even harder next time because everyone is out to beat us.”
No pressure, then. “Pressure is a privilege. We have earned that pressure and we should not shy away from it. We can use that in a positive way.”
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‘It’s going to be even harder next time because everyone is out to beat us’