Kookaburras seeking Olympic redemption in Rio

FOR a team seeking Rio redemption after years of brutal soul-searching there was only one place to start the journey – Christ the Redeemer.

The Australian men’s hockey team pose in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.

FOR a team seeking Rio redemption after years of brutal soul-searching there was only one place to start the journey – Christ the Redeemer.

The famous statue has been overlooking Rio for 85 years and Kookaburras hockey players visited it en masse on Tuesday.

The symmetry of the occasion was perfect, for more than any Australian team in Rio, the Kookaburras are on a mission of pure redemption.

They are driven men and a fascinating collective tale about pain and pressure which stretches beyond hockey and even sport itself.

The Kookaburras won bronze medals at the past two Olympics but were shattered at losing semi-finals to Spain (in Beijing) and Germany (in London) after leading at halftime in both games then inexplicably melting in the heat of the moment.

The Australian men’s hockey team pose in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.

The German loss seared their souls because while the Germans emerged rowdy and desperate in the second half the Kookaburras became quiet and seemed overwhelmed.

What followed was a brutal, lengthy and painful period of soul searching in which the team was basically picked to pieces by three psychologists and rebuilt over months and years with a harder shell.

There’s only one thing harder in sport than fronting a teammate and saying: “I stuffed up?’’

It’s fronting a teammate and saying “I needed you and you weren’t there ... why?’’

These sorts or questions were asked and answered.

It pushed some players to tears, it tested friendships, it drove some players out of the program but those that stayed became stronger men and their results since London have been exceptional.

“That was the hardest year I have had in my international career,’’ captain Mark Knowles said of the year after London.

“We basically sat in front of each other and said ‘what happened to you? What went wrong. What do you need from me?’

“We looked at different stages such as shyness. It wasn’t not easy to discuss these things so there was a bit of a divide in the group for a while.

“The last couple of months before the 2014 World Cup the group started to get what you call social contagion, in which a group started to move forward and you would see guys tack on the end of the train.

“There were players who could not admit things and there were tears as well. I remember times I would leave the meeting and I would get a call from a player about something in the meeting and we would be on the phone for an hour. It was a really tough thing to go through.

“Slowly we moved ahead. People came out of their shells. It is just so hard to admit those things.’’

Yesterday’s excursion was a break from the pressure and Kookaburras Olympic debutant Matthew Dawson said the team appreciated seeing some spectacular sights.

Originally published as Kookaburras seeking Olympic redemption in Rio