Nikki Symmons

Nikki Symmons (born 2 August 1982 in Dublin)[1] is an Irish field hockey player and cricketer. She is her country's most capped athlete of her sex and has been described as "the female Brian O'Driscoll".[2][3] She has 208 caps for the Ireland women's national field hockey team, the first of these coming against Wales in 2001.[4] In 2014, she became her country's first female athlete to speak publicly about being gay.[2][5][6] SportAccord, the union for Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations, selected her for the Sports Hero award which it gives as recognition for inspiring young people.[2] As a young girl, she herself admired Steffi Graf.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Nikki Symmons". ESPN.
  2. 1 2 3 O'Callaghan, Eoin (22 March 2015). "‘I thought if I could help just one person be comfortable with themselves, that would be an accomplishment’".
  3. ↑ Lynch, Gary (1 October 2014). "New LGBT sports group promotes inclusion".
  4. ↑ "Nikki Symmons".
  5. ↑ Blake, Ben (3 November 2014). "Miss the excellent Second Captains Live discussion on homosexuality in sport?".
  6. ↑ "Cork star Valerie Mulcahy goes public on sexuality 'to help others'". Irish Independent. 14 January 2015. Last October, Irish hockey player Nikki Symmons went public on her sexuality
  7. ↑ "Nikki Symmons interview". July 2007.

External links

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