Joel's Story
Indigenous athlete Joel Carroll followed his family into hockey and started playing in Darwin at the age of seven. Caroll moved to Perth in 2006 to join the national hockey program along with his younger brother Travis who was also a promising hockey player. Although he had to wait for Beijing Olympic defenders Matthew Wells and Bevan George to retire, Carroll stepped up to the senior team in 2009 when he competed in the Summer Series against The Netherlands in Perth. Carroll, cousin of striker Des Abbott, continued to impress and was a part of the successful Commonwealth Games and Champions Trophy teams that took home gold in 2010.
Carroll and cousin Abbott were both named in the London 2012 Olympic Team but Abbott- who won bronze at the Beijing Olympics- was forced to withdraw prior to the Games due to injury. Carroll went on to make his Olympic debut at the London 2012 Games and continue the family legacy.
Australia- ranked world number one- beat South Africa, Spain and Pakistan but drew with Argentina and Great Britain in the pool stage. In the semi-final the Australians held a 2-1 lead over defending Olympic Champions Germany midway through the second half, but the Germans stormed home to win 4-2. The Aussie Kookaburras bounced back to knock off the British in front of a vocal home crowd 3-1 and take home the bronze medal.
