Born: Kenya
19 June, 1956
Elspeth Denning began life in Kenya, moved with her family to South Africa at the age of six and played representative hockey for Western Province before settling in Western Australia in 1975.
She enjoyed a spectacular national and international career and made her mark as a full-back of the highest quality.
Blessed with fine skills and great balance, Denning was an inspirational vice-captain in Australia’s Olympic gold medal win in Seoul in 1988. She represented Australia in 101 international matches between 1978 and 1988. This included selection for three Olympic teams in 1980, 1984 and 1988.
Observers generally rated her as the outstanding player of the qualifying games and Australia’s best in the gold medal final against Korea.
As a result of these performances, Denning was voted WA Sports Star of the Year in 1989 and made a clean sweep of other major awards. She was also awarded the Order of Australia in the 1989 Australian Honours list.
She represented WA from 1976 to 1988, the last six years as captain. In the latter stages of her career she developed great penalty corner hitting skill and scored 65 goals for Australia.
Denning was a role model for others to follow as top level hockey underwent fundamental changes to the way the game was played, especially for defenders who had to cover a lot of the ground as teams adapted from grass to synthetic surfaces. Her speed, reflexes and great courage enabled her to make the transition successfully and become the dominant defender of her time.