Why Field Hockey Goalkeeper Kelsey Bing Is Meant To Go To The Paris Olympics

If there was ever an Olympic Games meant for field hockey goalkeeper Kelsey Bing, it is the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Just take the gold-plated croissant charm that hangs from her neck as one of the many reasons why.

“I am a huge fan of croissants. It’s my favorite thing ever,” the U.S. national team member shared. The necklace she proudly wears — a nod to her love for the flaky French pastry — was worn through the most recent Olympic qualifiers to manifest a win.

The competition was held in India — where they lost out to Team India four years earlier in a crushing loss late in the game, missing their chance to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. When they found out they would return, Bing asked her teammate, what’s the worst that could happen?

“We’ve already been blown out by India in India. We’ve already been through it. It can’t get worse than that,” she shared.

This time, Team USA prevailed, coming in second to Germany and earning their spot in Paris. Bing was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament — and Goalkeeper of the Match in their game against India.

“Knowing that we could leverage on a poor experience to propel us into a phenomenal one was just so special,” Bing said at the recent Team USA Media Summit in New York. “I’m grateful to have been through the missed qualification experience because I think it made this one feel even more worthwhile.”

You could say it was meant to be.

In June, the team will announce the players going to Paris.

“I’m a very process-oriented person so I am just focusing on one step at a time,” she said. “The first step for Paris is I need to get on the roster. I’m still an Olympic hopeful.”

The Olympics have been a dream of Bings for a long time. In her third year of high school, she was named to the junior national team where she played for the U.S. at an under-18 Olympic qualifier for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. They missed qualifying after taking third.

“When I think about Paris, it gives me chills because it feels so close,” the Houston, Texas native shared about the impending announcement. “It’s similar to sports where there’s only so much you can control.”

Growing up, her sport was soccer, and the U.S. women’s national team members were her idols. But in the seventh grade, it wasn’t an option for fall sports at her school so she chose field hockey after her mom reassured her that it was most like her favorite pastime.

Her younger sister, Lindsay, remembers her sibling’s time on the field of play. “She was the most competitive kid, always trying to win everything. I was not like that,” she laughed. “It’s been so fun to watch.”

Lindsay plans to watch from the sidelines in Paris, too, and has already requested time off from her bank job in New York City, assuming her sister gets named to the team. She won’t be the only Bing in attendance.

Many friends and family plan to be in Paris for the summer.

“It warms my heart because honestly, it takes a village. This is not something I did by myself. I had so much support,” the 26-year-old said. “I’m happy to have them there because they’re part of the process and should be celebrated.”

While she looks forward to them attending, there is one part she is hesitant about: “My dad sufficiently embarrassed me as a kid,” she said. Having been an athlete all her life, she’s given him a lot of chances to hone his skills. Not that she wants to challenge him, but “I don’t know how he could embarrass me any further.”

After graduating high school as a two-time state champion in field hockey, she went on to play at Stanford.

“I think what’s so great about Stanford is the excellence in sports and the excellence in the classroom that it puts out. For me, both are incredibly important,” said Bing.

That balance is something she uses today, juggling a full-time professional sports career with 30 hours a week as a software engineer in Charlotte, NC, where she lives full-time.

“I feel so fortunate that I have a company that’s willing to support me on my Olympic journey because not every company is like that,” she revealed about Xwing, an autonomous technology startup.

Her goal with the job is to “develop my mind and improve myself as a human being,” because she said, “As much as I’d love to be a professional athlete my whole life, I don’t think my body agrees with that.”

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.