Michael Watt represented Ireland in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

Rio was the final international appearance of a distinguished ten-year career in which he accumulated 201 caps and scored 54 goals – placing him sixth on Ireland’s all-time scoring list. A forward from Belfast, Watt attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, where he played both hockey and rugby union and was part of the RBAI team that won the McCullough Cup, Burney Cup and All-Ireland Schoolboys Hockey Championship in 2003-04 alongside future Ireland teammates Paul Gleghorne and John Jackson.

He attended Heriot-Watt University from 2005 to 2009, gaining a BSc in Real Estate Management and playing for Grange in the Scottish Hockey National League, where he won the Scottish Hockey Cup. He played professionally in the Netherlands with SCHC and in England with Surbiton and Hampstead & Westminster, as well as winning the Men’s Irish Hockey League with Lisnagarvey in 2015-16.

He made his senior Ireland debut against Poland in July 2006 and was a key figure in the team’s rise, helping win the EuroHockey Nations Championship bronze medal in 2015. He retired from international hockey in November 2017.