Ellen Hoog is one of the most successful hockey players of all time and something of a pin-up in her sport as well. She doesn’t seem like someone who needs much help in life. However, the double Olympic champion from the Netherlands has revealed that one of Hollywood’s most desired heart-throbs has played a role in her success – and, she hopes, will help her make it a hat-trick of gold medals at the Rio 2016 Games. Asked about being superstitious, she explained how there is a special place for actor Ryan Gosling in her pre-match routine.

“It’s a ritual for me and my teammate Naomi van As to watch The Notebook before the start of every tournament,” said Hoog in an interview with rio2016.com. “We also watch the movie before a final. We’ve probably already seen this movie 35 times in total. Every time we watched it, went on to become champions, so I hope it will also work for the Olympics in Rio.”

Hoog, 28, said that she has had to rein in her superstitious side and find other ways to ease her pre-match nerves. However, she admitted that some rituals have remained in place. “I always put on my right shin guard first and then my left,” she said. “I don’t know why but it has always been this way. I used to have a lot of superstitions, but I got a bit carried away with it all and had to cut back on them. Before a game I’m focused, but not over focused. I like to meditate when I notice that I’m edgy or nervous.”

As well as helping the Dutch women to gold at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games, Hoog was part of the world championship winning teams in 2006 and 2014 (she was voted player of the tournament in the latter) and also has three European crowns (2005, 2009 and 2011) and a Hockey World League title (2013) to her name.

Hoog believes that hockey will grow in popularity thanks to the Rio 2016 Games (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Hoog’s impressive statistics just keep on coming: she is unbeaten in Olympic matches, with 13 victories from 14 games. Even in the drawn game, she managed to make history, becoming the first player to decide a major championship in a penalty shoot-out, scoring the decisive goal against New Zealand in the London 2012 semi-finals.

She describes the Olympic Games as a “special competition” and believes the Rio 2016 edition has the ingredients to be among the most memorable. “First of all, the Brazilian people love sports,” said Hoog. “If you look at the enthusiasm during the football World Cup, the Brazilians showed themselves to be a fantastic crowd. I expect the same for the Olympics.”

Hoog came from a hockey-mad family and started playing aged just seven. However, she also showed great promise in tennis and had to choose between the two sports when she was 12. “Although I liked tennis very much, I immediately knew what I wanted: to play hockey.” Her choice was justified in 2004 when, aged just 17, she made her debut for the Netherlands and helped the team win the Champion’s Trophy.

Countless medals on from that golden debut, Hoog and her teammates are hoping to confirm their place this year among the 12 teams who will compete for Olympic gold in Rio, either through the 2014-2015 World Hockey League or the European championships, which will take place in London in August. The Republic of Korea women's team and the India men's side were the first two teams to qualfiy for Rio 2016.

And Hoog is hoping that the first Olympic Games in South America will help grow hockey in the region. “Hopefully it will. I hope that many people will see the sport and get enthusiastic about it. As Brazil is such a sport-minded country, I do believe hockey will be bigger there after the Olympics.”