Ric played first-class cricket for Western Australia and International field hockey for Australia Men (the Kookaburras), winning a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Mr Ric Charlesworth served as a Federal Member of Parliament in Australia from 1983 to 1993, representing the Labour Party.
After leaving politics, he was appointed coach of the Australian Women Hockey team (Hockeyroos), leading them to Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000.
Charlesworth later coached the Australian Men Hockey Team (Kookaburras) from 2009 to 2014
He was selected to represent Australia for five Olympic Games for Australian Men Hockey teams in, 1972, 1976, 1980 (captain) (Moscow Olympics were boycotted), 1984 (captain), and 1988, winning Silver at 1976, Montreal Olympic Games.
He was a member of the national hockey team which competed in various other international tournaments including winning the Hockey World Cup in London in 1986, where he was named player of the Tournament.
He won a Bronze medal in the 1978 Buenos Aires World Cup and the 1982 Bombay World Cup.
He retired from playing after representing Australia at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
He played 227 games for his country and scored 85 goals.
From 1993 to 2000 he was head coach of the Australian Women’s hockey team, the Hockeyroos. During this time they won the Champions Trophy in 1993 (Amsterdam), 1995 (Mar del Plata), 1997 (Berlin) and 1999 (Brisbane), the Hockey World Cup in 1994 (Dublin) and 1998 (Netherlands) and were gold medallists in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and Sydney Olympics in 2000 and 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
In 1976, he completed a Medical Degree (MBBS) from the University of Western Australia School of Medicine.
In 2002, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Science at the University of Western Australia and completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in philosophy and history also at the University of Western Australia.
He has written three books:
- The Coach – Managing for Success,
- Staying at the Top, and
3.Shakespeare the Coach…
“Batra spoke to Sports247”
It was a pleasure meeting with Mr. Charlesworth after a lot of love & hate relationships we have had in the past.
I had nice discussions with him and was also pleased to see his humane & emotional side.
I have also presented a personally signed book from Ric, which I will treasure.
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