Three-time Olympic champion Lidewij Welten will retire from hockey after this season | Sports Other

The 33-year-old Welten will play her last matches with her club Kampong this month during the play-offs. Next Sunday, after the last home game of the regular season, the attacker will be said goodbye in Utrecht.

Welten initially aimed to retire on the Olympic podium. But the veteran was already told in January that she was not eligible for the Olympic selection. National coach Paul van Ass thought she was too injury-prone and opted for others.

Welten could therefore forget her fifth participation in the Olympic Games. She won gold in 2008, 2012 and 2020 and took silver in 2016. The dribbler was named the best hockey player in the world in 2015.

In the Netherlands, Welten played the lion’s share of her career at Den Bosch, which dominated the competition for years. In her seventeen seasons in North Brabant she won no fewer than thirteen national titles.

In 2022, Welten made the surprising switch to Kampong, which usually does not compete for prizes. She found “a new impulse” and will probably meet her old club in the play-offs this month, but was unable to return to the Dutch team permanently.

Welten had to miss last summer’s European Championship due to injuries. She played only one international match under national coach Van Ass. “Others have developed in such a way that their space has been taken,” Van Ass said earlier.

Welten played 247 international matches in total. With that number she is one of the five players with the most appearances ever in the Dutch team. Eva Drummond-de Goede can also be found in the top five. The HGC midfielder will say goodbye next Sunday, just like Welten.