GUY FORDHAM is ready to be the flying doctor en route to Australia with a dream to be the best known Army medic since Hawkeye in MASH.

The Southampton-based Army doctor has been picked for the Great Britain hockey squad, and that puts him in pole position for a place on the plane to the Sydney Olympics next year.

Although he plays his club hockey for national Premier Division favourites Guildford, Fordham is based in Southampton where he is a doctor at the General Hospital.

He formally takes up a six-year commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps after the Olympics next year, but he is currently a serving soldier, holding the rank of lieutenant while seconded to the General for training.

For Fordham, the countdown to Sydney has begun with his inclusion in the GB squad after establishing himself as a fixture in the England team.

"Apart from one or two Welsh and Scottish lads, the GB team is almost exclusively English, and although I'm not counting any chickens as yet, my inclusion in the GB squad now puts me in the frame for Sydney," says Fordham.

Fordham has grafted his way up through the ranks, representing England at schools, Under-16, Under-18 and Under-21 level to where he won his first England cap three years ago.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to an Army doctor, he's been asked to advance by England and GB's Australian coach, Barry Dancer.

"Throughout most of my career I've played in defence, but Barry has decided to play me in the forward line. He obviously thinks I've got the pace to play up there."

There's some distance to go before the Flying Doctor steps out in the Olympic tournament in Australia, with Britain having to go through a pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Japan next March where they need to be among the six to go through from the 12-strong field. But he's also confident that he will not be travelling merely to prop up an ailing patient. Since the halcyon gold medal winning days of Seoul in 1988 British hockey has slumped, but Fordham reckons it's on the brink of a healthy upturn.

"I don't think hockey as a sport cashed in enough on our gold in 1988. We had a great chance to make it one of the top televised sports in the country, but it didn't happen.

"But I was part of the England team that won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur last September and I think we're developing together as a really strong side with a definite chance of winning a medal in Sydney - possibly even the gold."

Fordham is one of six hockey players out of the 100 sportsmen who are members of the elite Barclaycard 2000 group, who receive help with their training costs, and with hockey also getting backing from the World Class Performance Plan set up from National Lottery funding, he and his teammates won't lack for back-up in their quest for Olympic glory.

The would-be Flying Doctor says: "I've got a long year ahead of me. I have got to train hard and providing I stay injury free I'm confident of getting to Sydney."

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