Alyson Annan is the best female hockey player in the world. With 149 goals in just 201 international appearances she has what can only be described as a phenomenal goalscoring strike-rate. Such has been their domination since the 1992 Games in Barcelona that when the Australians failed to make the final of the Champions Trophy in the Netherlands this year the news was met with disbelief.
Perhaps her biggest asset is her ability to run from deep, picking up passes from her team-mates to rattle home goals. To do this requires speed, stamina, agility and superb control. But she is not just the consummate goalscorer. Annan is also adept at the defence-splitting pass. This skill is particularly devastating given the attention Annan attracts from the defenders when she gets the ball - this leaves gaps for her fellow attackers to exploit.
She first came into the Australian side in 1991 but Annan has told Inside Sport magazine's Champions special she did not feel comfortable in the team until the Atlanta Games, where the Hockeyroos won gold. To go with that Olympic gold Annan has a Commonwealth Games gold from Kuala Lumpur in 1998, four Champions Trophy winners' medals and a host of gold medals from other international tournaments.
The Commonwealth Games tournament was a particularly memorable one for Annan. During the Hockeyroos' campaign as she became Australia's top goalscorer, passing the previous record of 109.
She was in the Olympic Games: 1992 (fifth), 1996 (gold), 2000 (gold). Annan won the World Cup in 1998 (gold). Annan, voted the best female hockey player in the world in 1999, is sharing a house in Amsterdam with her lover, former Dutch hockey captain Carole Thate, who led her side to a bronze medal in Sydney.
Source: © 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation - et alii
