The Hockey Museum is saddened to hear of the death of Liz Chase, a member of the Zimbabwean women’s hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

The Zimbabwe team, nicknamed the ‘Golden Girls’, only knew they were competing thirty-five days before the start of the event making them the unlikeliest winners of an Olympic gold medal. As Cathy Harris writes in The Times obituary (download by clicking the PDF icon), five of the six teams withdrew as a result of the boycotts and Zimbabwe got their opportunity.

Liz was a vivacious and popular member of the team. She continued to work for hockey in her home country for many years afterwards but she will always be best remembered as being one of the ‘Golden Girls’.