Liz Chase

{{Short description|Zimbabwean field hockey player (1950–2018)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox sportsperson | birth_date = {{birth date|1950|4|26|df=y}} | birth_place = Umtali, Southern Rhodesia | death_date = {{death date and age|2018|5|9|1950|4|26|df=y}} | death_place = Johannesburg, South Africa | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport |Women's field hockey}} {{MedalCountry | {{ZIM}} }} {{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}} {{MedalGold|1980 Moscow| Team Competition}} }}

'''Elizabeth Muriel Chase''' (26 April 1950 – 9 May 2018) was a Zimbabwean field hockey player and member of the national team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Previously, she represented South Africa.

Born in Umtali (today Mutare), Chase attended Girls High School in Salisbury (today Harare).<ref name=":0" /> She was on the national schools field hockey team in 1966, and later the national under-21 team.<ref name=":0" /> After graduating, she went to South Africa to get a degree in physical education.<ref name=":0" /> There, she played for the university varsity team and the local provincial sides of Wits and Southern Transvaal.<ref name=":0" /> In 1973/74 she was chosen to play for the South Africa B team, and in 1976/77 she represented the Springbok Ladies hockey team.<ref name=":0" /> During the 1970s, she lost friends and family in the Rhodesian Bush War.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Witness History - Zimbabwe Olympics - BBC Sounds|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p008lmr5|access-date=2020-09-18|website=www.bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Upon returning to Rhodesia, Chase played for the Old Hararians club and taught physical education at Oriel Girls High School in Salisbury.<ref name=":0" /> She was selected every year for the Zimbabwe women's national team before she emigrated to South Africa in the early 1980s.<ref name=":0" /> She worked as head of the physical education department at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2000 and retired in 2015.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/edition/register/liz-chase-obituary-vg8f6730b|title=Liz Chase obituary}}</ref>

Chase died of cancer on 9 May 2018 in Johannesburg, two weeks after her 68th birthday. She is the first member of the 1980 Olympic field hockey team to die. <ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Matiza|first=Collin|date=2018-05-12|title=Golden Girl Liz Chase dies|url=https://www.herald.co.zw/golden-girl-liz-chase-dies/|access-date=2018-05-12|work=The Herald}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Wikiquote}} *{{Sports links}} *{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ch/liz-chase-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418064848/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ch/liz-chase-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-18 |title=Liz Chase}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Elizabeth}} Category:1950 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Sportspeople from Mutare Category:South African women's field hockey players Category:Zimbabwean women's field hockey players Category:Olympic field hockey players for Zimbabwe Category:Field hockey players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic gold medalists for Zimbabwe Category:Olympic medalists in field hockey Category:Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Category:White Zimbabwean sportspeople Category:Zimbabwean educators Category:Zimbabwean women educators Category:Zimbabwean emigrants to South Africa Category:Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand Category:Deaths from cancer in South Africa