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
- ^ "Nikki Symmons". ESPN.
- ^ a b c O'Callaghan, Eoin (22 March 2015). "'I thought if I could help just one person be comfortable with themselves, that would be an accomplishment'".
- ^ Lynch, Gary (1 October 2014). "New LGBT sports group promotes inclusion".
- ^ "Nikki Symmons".
- ^ Blake, Ben (3 November 2014). "Miss the excellent Second Captains Live discussion on homosexuality in sport?".
- ^ "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
- ^ "Nikki Symmons interview". July 2007.