Sean Robin Kerly (born 29 January 1960) is an English 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 competed at three Olympic Games and won a gold medal in 1988.

Biography

Kerly was born in

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

and was educated at Chatham House Grammar School in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

. He played club hockey for Southgate Hockey Club in the

Men's England Hockey League The Men's England Hockey League is a field hockey league organised by England Hockey that features men's teams from England and Wales. Format Regular season There are 62 teams in the league, the top tier consists of a Premier Division of ...

and in 1981, he made his

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

senior international debut. At the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he helped Great Britain secure the bronze medal. Kerly scored the winning goal in the bronze medal match in LA against Australia (3-2). The success is attributed as having revived interest in hockey in Britain. Two years later, at the

1986 Men's Hockey World Cup The 1986 Hockey World Cup was the sixth Hockey World Cup men's field hockey tournament. It was held in London, England. The competition was won by Australia, who defeated host nation England men's national field hockey team, England 2–1 in the ...

, Britain won the silver medal on home ground in London, with Kerly scoring four goals in the tournament. After scoring a hat-trick against Pakistan in the 1987 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy and eight goals in one game during the 1987 European Club Cup he entered the 1988 Olympics as a well-known name in Britain. In 1988, he was a member of the gold medal-winning Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad at the 1988 Summer Olympics in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. He scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against Australia before Britain defeated West Germany 3–1 in the final, with Kerly scoring once and Imran Sherwani twice. Still at Southgate, he represented England at the 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup but made a surprise transfer to Canterbury Hockey Club for the 1991/92 season. He then represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

for the third time at the Olympics, participating at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Since retirement, he has also been involved in commentary for international hockey coverage on national television.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerly, Sean 1960 births Living people English male field hockey players English Olympic competitors Olympic field hockey players for Great Britain British male field hockey players Field hockey players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain People from Whitstable Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Southgate Hockey Club players 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup players