Stephen Martin (field hockey)

Stephen Martin

Personal information
Born	(1959-04-13) 13 April 1959 Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland
Medal record Men's Field Hockey Representing United Kingdom Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Team Competition 1984 Los Angeles Team Competition

Stephen Alexander "Sam" Martin MBE (born 13 April 1959) is a former field hockey player.

He competed three times at the Summer Olympics, and was a member of the gold winning Great Britain squad in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Martin has 229 International caps, 135 for Ireland and 94 for Great Britain.

Background

Martin's debut for Great Britain was in 1983 against the USA, and the following year he played in the 1984 Summer Olympics Los Angeles, winning a bronze medal. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he came on as a sub in the final for his 50th British cap, and won an Olympic gold medal. He was vice-captain of the Great Britain squad at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, after which he retired from international hockey. He has also competed in ten Champions Trophy tournaments, winning one silver medal (1985 in Perth, Australia) and one bronze medal (1984 in Karachi, Pakistan). Out of his total of 94 caps with Great Britain he was captain 20 times and scored four goals.

Having first played for Ireland in 1980 against France, Martin has won a total of 105 Irish caps, was captain for twenty of those games, and scored ten goals. He has 30 Irish indoor international hockey caps. He competed in three European Cups (1983, 1987 and 1991) and the 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup (in Lahore, Pakistan) with Ireland. He has also won a silver medal with Ireland at the 1978 European U21 Championships in Dublin, and the following year in Paris he played in the first ever Junior Hockey World Cup.

Martin has held posts as Director of Coaching at Ulster Hockey, worked in Performance Dept at Sports Council NI, was Deputy Chief Executive of the British Olympic Association, and in 2006 he became Chief Executive of the Olympic Council of Ireland. He was awarded a Texaco Sports Award for hockey in 1988, and received the MBE for services to hockey in 1993.

Personal life

Martin was born in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and was educated at Bangor Central Primary School for 2 years before attending Bloomfield Road Primary School in Bangor, and then Bangor Grammar School. As well as being a regular on the Bangor Grammar School hockey team he was also on the school's golf team that beat Summerhill College Sligo in the 1974 Irish Schools Match Play Championships Final. The other players he played with on the school's golf team were his older brother Philip Martin, Colin Crozier, Billy Pope and David Feherty (a former professional golfer).

In 1985 he graduated from University of Ulster, Jordanstown with an BA (Hons) Sport and Leisure Studies, and in 2001 awarded him an Honorary Doctorate for services to sport.

He lives in Holywood, County Down and stays in Malahide when working in Dublin. His wife is a part-time teacher at Priory Integrated College, Holywood.