Nicole Hudson OAM (nee Mott)

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Nikki Hudson’s rise from Toowoomba hockey fields to international star

Born Rockhampton, July 6, 1976

Queensland Sports Hall of Fame 2012

NICOLE “Nikki” Hudson rose from Toowoomba junior hockey fields while attending Centenary Heights State High School to become one of Australia’s most decorated and influentional sporting stars.

Nikki’s hockey career was highlighted by her then record 303 appearances for the Australian Hockeyroos after she debuted for her country in 1993 at only 17 years of age.

Nikki captained Australia on multiple occasions and underlined her rating as one of world hockey’s most deadly strikers with 99 international career goals.

Nikki was the tournament’s top scorer at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and a key contributor to the Hockeyroo’s gold medal victory. She represented at two Oympic Games, and three Commonwealth Games where she won gold in Kuala Lumpur (1998) and Melbourne (2006).

She also made World Cup appearances for Australia in Holland in 1998, where the Hockeyroos were gold medallists, and Spain in 2006.

Nikki also competed at nine Champions Trophy tournaments, winning gold three times.

A career highpoint was Hudson’s naming as captain of the World XI in 2006 by the International Hockey Federation.

After retiring as a player in 2009 Hudson made a successful transition to hockey media work which included television commentary on the women's hockey matches at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Dehli.

More Nikki Hudson career highlights:-

  • She became the first woman to play 300 international hockey matches for Australia.

  • Olympics: One gold medal (Sydney, 2000).

  • Commonwealth Games: Two gold, one bronze medal.

  • World Cup: 0ne gold, one silver medal.

  • Champions Trophy: Three gold, one silver, three bronze medals.

  • Hudson’s AHL state team was the Queensland Scorchers.

  • In 2018 a new Gold Coast Commonwealth Games international standard hockey pitch at the Sports Super Centre, Runaway Bay was named in honour of Hudson.

  • Hudson was inducted into the Queensland Sports Hall of Fame in 2012