Lincoln footballer leads Olympic team to first victory
A footballer from Lincoln who was chosen to captain the Olympic women’s football team has already helped lead Team GB to victory in Cardiff.
Casey Stoney plays for Lincoln Ladies, and is also captain of the England women’s football team.
She has previously described being selected as captain for the Olympic team as the “pinnacle of her career”.
On July 25 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Great Britian kicked off the start of the Olympics with a 1-0 win against New Zealand.
The winning goal was scored by full-back Steph Houghton with a free kick in the second half.
Lincoln Ladies’ manager, Glen Harris, told the BBC that Casey Stoney is a natural leader.
He said: “Casey is a natural leader and an inspiration and I really think [..] Team GB can do it.
“Casey is a great organiser and communicator. That is a real strength of hers. She reads the game brilliantly and that is probably her biggest asset. She understands the game and is able to translate that to others around her.
“She is respected by all team-mates at Lincoln and at international level.”
On arriving in London for the games, Stoney gave an insight into staying in the Olympic Village:
“It is all starting to get very real now, the Olympic Village is like nothing I have ever known before.
“The dinner hall seats over 5000 athletes at one time, with every cuisine you could imagine under one roof, including a Macdonalds. There is a hair dressers and beauty salon on sight, together with a massive games room, filled with pool tables, table football and ever games console you can dream off, all for free.”
Team GB’s next fixture will be against Cameroon on July 28 at the Millennium Stadium at 5.15pm.
You can follow Stoney’s experiences at the Olympic Village by following her blog on the Lincoln Ladies website.
