Danielle Roche OAM (born 25 May 1970 in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

) is a former

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player, who was a member of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team, commonly known as the "Hockeyroos", which won the gold medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Personal

Roche was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

on 25 May 1970. She is the daughter of Ken Roche, who was a hurdler at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

and won two

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

gold medals.

Hockey career

Roche made her debut as a 19 year old for the Australian team in 1989 in the Australia vs New Zealand series. She was a member of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team that won the gold medal at the

. She was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

hockey scholarship holder and played for MCC Hockey Club.

Business career

Roche has held finance and commercial positions with

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

, has been a Director at UBS, a partner at Evans and Partners. Roche is a Director of a privately owned fraud and risk management business.

Community leadership

In 2017, Roche was named Chair of the

National Australia Day Council The National Australia Day Council (NADC) is a non-profit social enterprise owned by the Australian Government and is the national coordinating body for the Australian of the Year awards and Australia Day. It was established in 1979 and inc ...

Sports administration

Roche was a

Hockey Australia Hockey Australia is an organisation that formed from the merger of the Australian Hockey Association and Women's Hockey Australia in 2000. It is the national body responsible for the promotion, development and administration of field hockey in ...

Director for seven years until she was appointed to the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

Board in 2012. She was appointed to the

Australian Sports Commission The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as S ...

Board on 4 May 2016. Roche is a Trust Member of Victorian State Sports Centres. In March 2017, Roche announced that she was standing for the President of the

Australian Olympic Committee The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) is the National Olympic Committee responsible for developing, promoting, and protecting the Olympic Movement in Australia. The AOC has the exclusive responsibility for the representation of Australia at ...

. It was first time that John Coates has been challenged for the Presidency, a position held since 1990.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Danni 1970 births Living people Australian female field hockey players Field hockey players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Olympic medalists in field hockey Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Field hockey players from Melbourne Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Australian lesbian sportswomen LGBTQ people from Victoria (state) LGBTQ field hockey players 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people