Santi Freixa

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Santiago ("Santi") Freixa i Escudé (born February 13, 1983 in Terrassa, in the Spanish region of Catalonia) is a Spanish field hockey player, who earned his first cap in 2000 against The Netherlands. Friends as well as other players call him by his nickname "Gugu".

Born in the hockey-mad town of Terrassa just outside Barcelona, the young Freixa had a stick in his hands from the moment he could walk as he joined his parents as they went to play at the Atletic Terrassa club — which was formed by his grandfather in 1952. Four of his uncles all played for the Spanish Men's National Team, with one of them winning a silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia by loosing against Holland in the final match.

Freixa himself won the Champions Trophy with Spain in December 2004, in Lahore (Pakistan), just after he was being named Talent of the Year (2004) by the International Hockey Federation. The skillful striker also captured the European title in September 2005, at the expense of Holland, in Leipzig (Germany) and previously won the same tittle against Germany in the U´21 category at the European Tournament hosted in Madrid (2000). In this tournament, Freixa completed an astonishing performance and brilliant ratios, scoring up to five goals in the semi-finals against Holland.