Daniel's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Hockey
Event: Mens
Olympic History: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 (Silver)
Year Born: 1993
State Born: QLD
About Daniel
Daniel Beale made his Olympic debut in the Rio 2016 men’s hockey Team after a stellar performance at the 2016 Champion’s Trophy earned him Olympic selection.
Beale’s hockey career began in 1996 at the Bulimba Hockey club in Brisbane, where his entire family played. A move to the Commercial Hockey Club in Queensland then facilitated his eventual selection in the Kookaburras squad in Perth.
Daniel captained the Australian U21 men’s team at the 2013 Junior World Cup and in the same season made the move up to the senior team. Despite a serious back injury and a month of recovery, he was presented with his senior green and gold jersey for the 2014 World League Finals, before being made a full member of the national squad shortly after.
In 2016, Beale made his Olympic debut playing alongside teammates, Jamie Dwyer and Mark Knowles who he credits as being his inspiration to play hockey at the Olympic Games. He cites the 2004 Olympic gold medal winning Australian team in Athens as reason he wanted to become a player and recalls watching and cheering them on the television as a child.
In 2018 Beales was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Later that year, he helped the team to a bronze medal finish at the 2018 World Cup.
Daniel became a two-time Olympian at Tokyo 2020, where the Kookaburras would fall one game short of recreating the efforts of that very 2004 Athens team. But would result in his first Olympic Medal (Silver) in his second consecutive games. Beale would score in the first two of Australia’s group-stage games, where they went undefeated.
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