The triple Olympian was selected as co-captain of the 2024 Paris Olympic team along with three others to create a quartet of leaders.
It’s often said that the most important knowledge one can possess is the knowledge of one’s self and Jane Claxton said she has learned a lot about herself over a long hockey career.
When a youngster, she played hockey in a mixed gender competition and found she didn’t really enjoy the rough and tumble of how the boys played. But she learned to overcome that discomfort.
And in a reflective mood following an unsatisfying Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, Claxton revealed that the Hockeyroos’ global golden legacy’ had led her 2016 team to a false sense of security – expecting to win rather than following the process in its minute detail.
“You grow up watching so many people win Olympic medals from Australia, you go there kind of expecting it and then you forget about the process of doing it,” Claxton said.
“We rocked up for the first game and instead of just concentrating on that we probably got ahead of ourselves thinking about ‘we need to win a gold medal’, rather than winning each game.”
This analytical mind – plus an optimistic, constructive outlook – are in part the reason Jane Claxton was selected as captain of the Hockeyroos for the 2017 Trans-Tasman Trophy and the International Festival of Hockey.
She also captained the Hockeyroos in front of her home crowd in Adelaide in a series against Japan in late 2017.
The mid-fielder and goal scorer, who plays for the famous Burnside Club, was also voted Hockeyroos Player of the Year in 2017 and 2019, standout recognition of her status at the national level.
The triple Olympian was selected as co-captain of the 2024 Paris Olympic team along with three others to create a quartet of leaders.
