Troy Elder

Troy Elder OAM (born 15 October 1977 in Bunbury, Western Australia) is a field hockey striker and midfielder from Australia, who was a member of the Men's National Team that won the golden medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Four years earlier, when Sydney hosted the Olympic Games, Elder finished in third spot with The Kookaburras, as the national team is called.

Elder played state hockey for the Queensland Blades in his native country. He won the "Player of the Tournament Award" at the 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, where Australia was beaten in the final by Germany. A powerful and consistent penalty corner converter, he graduated to the National Squad following a successful 1998 National Hockey League season with the Queensland Blades. Elder was The Kookaburras highest goal scorer in 2001 with fourteen goals.

Now retired from international hockey, Elder plays club hockey for [http://www.united-hockey.com United Hockey Club] in Brisbane whilst still representing the Queensland Blades.

Nicknamed "Woody", Elder shot into limelight as a player with the National Junior Squad, that won the World Cup at Milton Keynes in 1997 against India. He got into the senior squad in 1998 at the Champions Trophy in Lahore, where Australia won the bronze. He was part of the winning team in the next year's Champions Trophy at Brisbane. A plumber by profession he is fond of surfing and fishing.

Just like his countrymen Jay Stacy and Michael Brennan, Elder moved to The Netherlands, where he plays club hockey for Eindhoven's Oranje Zwart, with whom he won the Dutch title in the spring of 2005. The price was high, because during the Dutch play-offs he neglected the call from Australia's Head Coach Barry Dancer to come over for a training session with the Men's National Team. He therefore had to miss the 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai and the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

External links

* [http://www.hockey.org.au/natteams/player_details.asp?PlayerID=170 Profile on Hockey Australia]