Chris Spice OBE (born 25 December 1959 [1] ) is a British-Australian sports executive, currently Performance Director for British Swimming, and a former field hockey player for Australia.
He was born in Brisbane, the youngest of six children. People in his family played top-tier sport.
He played field hockey for Queensland and Australia.
In the early 1990s he became a coach for the Australian women's field hockey team, working under Ric Charlesworth. The team won the World Cup in 1994 and the Olympic gold medal in 1996.
After the Olympics he became Performance Director for the English Hockey Association (England Hockey) in 1997, and joined the Great Britain team in 1998, taking the teams to the Olympics in 2000, where the men finished sixth and the women finished eighth.
In 2007 he became Performance Director for British Basketball, being responsible for the team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
He became the Performance Director for British Swimming, taking the team to the Olympics in 2016 and 2021.
Spice was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to swimming and high performance sport. [2]
The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia in the University Endowment Lands just outside the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thunderbirds are the most successful athletic program both regionally in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association, and nationally in U Sports.
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's 66-hectare (163-acre) headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), part of the Australian Government under the Department of Health and Aged Care.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture and the United Kingdom has played a significant role in the organisation and spread of sporting culture globally. In the infancy of many organised sports, the Home Nations, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland were heavily involved in setting out the formal rules of many sports, and formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After 1922, some sports formed separate bodies for Northern Ireland, though many continued to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. For this reason, in many though not all sports, most domestic and international sport is carried on a Home Nations basis, and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are recognised as national entities.
Alexander Baumann, is a Canadian sports administrator and former competitive swimmer who won two gold medals and set two world records at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 2007, he was regarded by the national broadcaster as "the greatest swimmer in Canadian history", as the twin Olympic gold medals were Canada's first in swimming since 1912.
The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisional Collegiate Water Polo Association. Team colors are maize and blue, though these are different shades of "maize" and "blue" from those used by the university at large. The winged helmet is a recognized icon of Michigan Athletics.
The Australia men's national field hockey team is one of the nation's most successful top-level sporting teams. They are the only Australian team in any sport to receive medals at six straight Summer Olympic Games (1992–2012). The Kookaburras placed in the top four in every Olympics between 1980 and 2012; in 2016, the Kookaburras placed sixth. They also won the Hockey World Cup in 1986, 2010 and 2014.
The Australia women's national field hockey team are, as of January 2019, ranked third in the world. Having played their first game in 1914, and their first Olympic game in 1984, they are one of Australia's most successful sporting teams, boasting three Olympic gold medals, two World Cup gold medals and four Commonwealth Games gold medals. The Hockeyroos have been crowned Australia's Team of the Year five times and were unanimously awarded Best Australian Team at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Barry John Middleton is regarded as one of the greatest British field hockey players in history. He played as a midfielder and forward for England and Great Britain and is the most capped British hockey player in history and captained his country for many years.
Janice Gabrielle Cameron, was an Australian competition swimmer and coach.
Graham John Reid is a former Australian field hockey player who played as a defender and midfielder for the Australian national team. He managed the Indian men's national team that won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body has approximately 100,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators and volunteers. The body oversees the management and development of the sport from the national team at the elite level, the conduct of national and international events, through to grass roots participation. The organisation's vision is to become Australia's leading sport through increased participation, continual outstanding performance and commercial excellence.
Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in South Australia.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. Britain is one of only five NOCs to have competed in every modern Summer Olympic Games since 1896. The delegation of 547 people included 311 competitors – 168 men, 143 women – and 236 officials. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom including Northern Ireland. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Olympic competition.
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
Tim Walsh is an Australian rugby union coach and a former professional player. He is currently head coach of the Australian women's sevens team and was previously head coach of the Australian men's sevens team. Walsh played as a fly-half for the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby, and for several professional teams in England and Italy. He is a former captain of the Australian men's sevens team.
Field hockey has been played by men in Australia since 1901. By 1907, there were clubs in several states including New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria. Women's field hockey was eventually represented by the Australian Institute of Sport, though the amount of support it received was less than the support the men received. The All Australian Women's Hockey Association was established in 1910 to govern the sport in Australia. in 2000, Women's Hockey Australia merged with the Australian Hockey Association to form Hockey Australia. The game has been played by women on the university and school level. Interstate matches were being played by 1909. The level of play on the interstate level is very high. The Australia women's national field hockey team, established in 1914, has placed highly in many competitions.
Danny Kerry MBE is an English international field hockey coach. He was the head coach for the England and Great Britain Men's teams from September 2018 until January 2022. He had previously been Head Coach for the England and Great Britain Women's teams from 2005 to 2012 and 2014 to 2018. During this tenure the national teams medalled at Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic level. Kerry was voted Team GB coach of the year in 2016 following the Rio Olympic Games, and awarded the Sam Musabini medal by UK Coaching.
Great Britain, or in full Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016 and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. British athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, alongside Australia, France, Greece, and Switzerland, though Great Britain is the only country to have won at least one gold medal at all of them. The team represented the United Kingdom, the three Crown Dependencies, and the thirteen British Overseas Territories, ten of whom sent representatives.
Great Britain, or in full Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the team of the British Olympic Association (BOA), which represents the United Kingdom, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ben Gathercole is an Australian high-performance triathlon coach, sports manager and author.