Jamie Dwyer and Mark Knowles have been selected for their fourth Olympics, giving No. 1-ranked Australia an edge in experience as it bids to end Germany’s run of gold medals in men’s field hockey at the Summer Games.
The pair, who are brothers-in-law, were on the Australian team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens where Dwyer hit the winning goal in the final that earned Australia its first Olympic gold medal in the competition.
The 32-year-old Knowles was captain of the 16-man Kookaburras squad announced Wednesday for the August 5-21 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and desperate to improve on the bronze-medal finishes in 2008 and 2012 when Germany claimed the titles. The squad features ten returning Olympians and six rookies.
“As the Australian men’s hockey team we want to win, we don’t want to get bronze,” Knowles said.
At 37, five-time international player of the year Dwyer will be Australia’s oldest field hockey player ever at the Olympics.
“After missing out on the Commonwealth Games in 2014 I was thinking about retiring and for a good couple of months wasn’t sure what I’d do,” Dwyer said. “I’m very happy that I decided to give it a crack.”
Australia won the World Cup in 2014, the world league in 2015 and most recently the last Champions Trophy, and heads into the Olympics with the No. 1 ranking.
The Australians face New Zealand, Britain, Belgium, Spain and Brazil in the preliminary round.
Australian squad: Andrew Charter, Blake Govers, Christopher Ciriello, Daniel Beale, Eddie Ockenden, Fergus Kavanagh, Glenn Turner, Jacob Whetton, Jamie Dwyer, Mark Knowles, Matt Gohdes, Matthew Dawson, Matthew Swann, Simon Orchard, Timothy Deavin, Tristan White.
