Renita Maree Farrell-Garard (born 30 May 1972 in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

) 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 from Australia, who was a member of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team, best known as the ''Hockeyroos'', that won the gold medals at the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. She made her international debut in 1994, and co-captained the winning Atlanta side. She is married to Gerry Garard, father of Brendan Garard, a field hockey player who claimed the bronze medal at the men's competition in

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 ...

. Farrell was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

(OAM) in the

1997 Australia Day Honours The 1997 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1997 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane. The Aust ...

and the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

in June 2000.

References

Australian Olympic Committee

External links

* * * * * * 1972 births Living people Australian female field hockey players Olympic field hockey players for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Townsville Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sportswomen from Queensland {{Australia-fieldhockey-bio-stub