Minke Smeets



Minke Smeets (née Smabers; born March 22, 1979 in Den Haag, Zuid-Holland) is a field hockey midfielder from the Netherlands. Her current team is Laren.

She was part of the team that won the 2007 Champions Trophy. During the Champions Trophy she became the all-time record holder in caps for the national team, wearing the orange jersey for the 235th time in her career in the final, breaking Mijntje Donners' record. She won an Olympic gold medal with the Dutch team by beating China in the final of the 2008 Summer Olympicsin Beijing.

During the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing her boyfriend, Dutch' baseball teams catcher, Tjerk Smeets proposed, and Minke accepted.[1]  Her older sister Hanneke was also a Dutch international.