#Rio2016 | Kavanagh Earns Selection for a Third Olympic Campaign
Western Australian hockey athlete Fergus Kavanagh has been selected for a third Olympic campaign for the Kookaburras after the men’s team for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games was today announced in Perth.
Kavanagh is the sole Western Australian in coach Graham Reid’s 16-man squad, with the team favoured to push for gold in Rio, when competition begins on August 6th.
At 31, Kavanagh is heading to a third Olympic Games, having won bronze medals as member of the Kookaburras’ Beijing 2008 and London 2012 campaigns.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Kavanagh grew up in Geraldton and has developed into a key player in the Australian set up, holding a role in the team’s leadership group alongside experienced colleagues such as Jamie Dwyer and captain Mark Knowles, who have both made their fourth Olympic team.
Australia will play New Zealand, Great Britain, Belgium, Spain and hosts Brazil in the preliminary round, and will aim to win the country’s first gold medal since Athens 2004.
As the number one ranked side in Brazil, Mark Knowles confirmed that the group had set their sights on nothing less.
“When we go to the Olympic Games as the Australian men’s hockey team we want to win, we don’t want to get bronze, just make the semis or play off for fifth,” Knowles said.
Kavanagh becomes the 15th Western Australian officially selected on the 2016 Australian Olympic Team and joins WA water polo athlete Gemma Beadsworth as a triple Olympian.
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