Australia goalkeeper Andrew Charter says his ''brutal'' London Olympics where he was segregated from his teammates and banished from the stands helped spur him to become a world champion.
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As one of the reserves in the 2012 Games squad, Charter was banned from sleeping at the athletes' village and was forced to stay in a hotel just 10 metres away.
It stoked a fire in the 27-year-old to replace Nathan Burgers as the Kookaburras' top shot stopper, and help Australia to gold at last month's World Cup.
"It's a pretty brutal position to be put into and it's one I hope is fixed in the end,'' Charter said. "It was so mentally tough and it really tested me as an individual, to keep a positive mindset and do everything I could for the team, and put them first over my own ambition.
"I say I hope it doesn't happen again because the Commonwealth and Olympic Games are the only tournaments which don't allow hockey to have 18 players on the team card. For some reason they only allow 15, which means teams sacrifice a goalkeeper to get a better rotation system.''
Charter said he and fellow London reserve Kiel Brown, ironically a late inclusion for Glasgow through injury, leant on each other for strength.
"It's hard being there and wanting the team to perform well, but at the same time not really being part of the team,'' he said. "You still go to every briefing and do things like that for the team, it was tough. We were put in an apartment building which was literally just across the road. We'd hang out with the team like anyone else, we just didn't have a bed in the village. I think it helped me going into the World Cup, I learnt a lot from it.''
Charters' positive attitude toward the situation impressed coach Ric Charlesworth, who sensationally stood down from his post just weeks before the Commonwealth Games.
"Ric had a chat with us after the Olympics and thanked Kyle and myself for how positive we were around the team the entire time,'' Charters said. "We didn't become a distraction, which happened a bit in Beijing.''
After winning the World Cup in such dominant fashion, the Kookaburras are raging favourites to win a third straight Commonwealth Games gold.
The axing of Jamie Dwyer, arguably Australia's greatest player, for the tournament sent shockwaves through the hockey world. Charter is adamant they can overcome the loss of Dwyer and Charlesworth, and backed Dwyer to return to the international stage.
"I don't think Jamie's done by any stretch of the imagination but I think we're being conservative in our approach, getting young guys who are more than capable playing in a big tournament,'' Charter said. "I think we're well placed, I don't think it's going to have as big an impact as some people think it might. Obviously Ric will leave a void, but since London our assistants Graham Reid and Paul Gaudoin have been taking more of a lead role.
"It's almost been a co-coaching arrangement for four months, but losing a supremely analytical mind like Ric will take a bit to replace. The public probably expect us to walk it in now we've finished the World Cup so strongly, we're comfortable with that expectation. It's hard not to get complacent, but there's still teams like India or England who on their day can beat the best in the world.''