Team GB hockey’s Giselle Ansley: ‘If we won gold in Japan I’d have to bake something related to the experience’

Ansley will be one of the GB team trying to defend their Olympic title in Tokyo this summer and tells Rachel Steinberg how she is balancing her sporting success with her passion in the kitchen

Wednesday 12 May 2021 15:05 BST
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British Olympic hockey player Giselle Ansley
British Olympic hockey player Giselle Ansley (Getty Images)

What kind of cake do you bake to celebrate winning Olympic gold?

It’s a question Giselle Ansley might need to answer a second time if the Team GB hockey squad successfully defends their Rio 2016 title in Tokyo. The 29-year-old has always been a dab hand in the kitchen, but last year, urged on by friends and family, she decided to turn pro. In August, Ansley launched Stick or Whisk, a business named after her two greatest passions – hockey and baking.

All of the England international’s sumptuous sweets are documented on the company’s Instagram, including the cake she baked to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the ‘magical’ day Team GB women stood atop the Olympic hockey podium for the first time.

She said: “I decorated it with flowers, fresh flowers, then I cut out the Olympic rings in gold as a topper. Then I put the date that we won in icing around the bottom. And the flavours were coconut and lime curd, all as a bit of a reminder of Brazil and Rio.

“So I guess if we won gold in Japan I’d have to do something related to the experience we have [there]. When I think of Japan I think of cherry blossoms and stuff like that, so I could definitely get some fresh flowers in there somehow.”

The athlete has earned the moniker “Queen of Cakes” at her home club, Surbiton, and even served as head judge for the Sparticans’ half term Family Cake Challenge in February.

You’re never satisfied, athletes are never satisfied. We always want more

Looking at Ansley’s immaculately decorated creations, you’d be hard pressed to believe the athlete is self-taught, mostly through experimentation or the occasional “pearls of wisdom” from other bakers on YouTube. She’s whipped up everything from a six-layer rainbow unicorn cake—complete with a twisted gold horn and ears—for a four-year-old’s birthday, to a nautical carrot concoction, complete with blue ombre fondant waves and white icing ‘rope’ for a “sailing into 60” celebration.

She can’t pick a favourite project, explaining they’re all “different and unique to the person” – though every customer does get to boast their dessert was handcrafted by an Olympic gold medallist.

The defender and her GB teammates are finally back in FIH Pro League action after a six-month hiatus, facing Germany in two midweek matches—their first capped home clashes since November 2019’s Olympic qualifiers. It will also mark a triumphant return to the pitch for the Devon native, who last played capped international hockey at that same event. An Achilles injury requiring surgery prematurely ended her 2020 season and she’s eager to make an immediate impact.

The team was able to practice during lockdown, but, Ansley agreed: “You can train all you like but it doesn’t ever replicate an international match. We played inter-squad and stuff, and we’ve had members of the development squad come and make it so that we can play a proper 11 v 11, but no training can fully replicate an international game. So it’s been really good for us to get these games and work on our actual tactics against opposition.

“You’re never satisfied, athletes are never satisfied. We always want more.”

Ansley, who has earned 66 GB and 90 home caps, will be joined by captain Hollie Pearne-Webb, who missed the squad’s last Pro League games against the Netherlands and Belgium, and midfielder Sarah Robertson, who could play in her 150th international match.

Notably absent is midfielder Emily Defroand, who on Friday was dealt a crushing blow when she was deemed unavailable for Olympic selection following the relapse of a back injury sustained in January.

The pressure is on to send a strong message to a German side likely similar to the one Team GB will face in their July 25 Olympic opener, but Ansley is staying grounded—with a little help from her newfound flour power.

“I can’t eat loads of cake,” she said, “so it’s always nice to bake for people. I just absolutely love doing it, it’s something different to playing hockey. It gives me something else to think about, it allows me to use my more creative side as well. And the take-up has been really good!”

So when she returns from Tokyo—ideally with a cherry blossom cake to bake—would she consider joining the likes of Hannah Cockroft, Dame Kelly Holmes and other elite athletes who have competed under television’s most famous tent? I’d love to do [The Great Celebrity] Bake Off!” she immediately replies, adding, “but I’m not a celebrity.”

Two gold medals could change that.

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