With just over one month to go until the start of Tokyo 2020, we provide a snapshot summary of the history of hockey at the Olympic Games, a saga that began well over a century ago.
The inaugural Olympic Hockey Competition for men was held in London in 1908 with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales competing separately. With the addition of Germany and France, the competition ran with six teams. After having made its first appearance at the London Games, hockey was subsequently dropped from the 1912 Stockholm Games after host nations were granted control over ‘optional sports’. It reappeared in 1920 in Antwerp after pressure from Belgian hockey advocates before being omitted again in Paris in 1924.
Hockey final between England and Ireland at the 1908 Olympic Games. Photo credit: The Hockey Museum
The formation of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in 1924 was not soon enough for the Paris Olympics but it did grant hockey re-entry in Amsterdam in 1928. Hockey has been on the programme ever since, with women's hockey included for the first time in Moscow in 1980. At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, hockey celebrated 100years as an Olympic sport, while at London 2012, hockey was the third biggest sport in terms of ticket sales with over 630,000 sold. The Olympics is the ultimate hockey competition, with the Olympic gold medal being the most coveted prize in the sport.
India is the most successful country with eight Olympic gold medals, all of which were won by the men's team between 1928 and 1980. Pakistan, India’s great rivals, also enjoyed incredible success, winning three golds, three silvers and two bronze medals between 1956 and 1976.
In more recent years, the men's and women's teams of Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and Argentina have all made big impressions. Between 1996 and 2012, the Netherlands men contested four out of the five Olympic finals played during that period, winning gold at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. The Dutch women have also enjoyed considerable success, competing in every final from 2004 to 2016 and winning gold at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, adding to the title they claimed in 1984.
Germany and Australia have also left indelible marks on Olympic hockey, with Germany winning five golds (men: 1972, 1992, 2000 & 2012 / women: 2004) and Australia four (women 1988, 1996 & 2000 / men: 2004).
Hockey has also seen its fair share of triumphs by the so-called underdogs. New Zealand men stunned the world to take gold at Montreal 1976, with Zimbabwe women creating shockwaves by winning at Moscow 1980 and Spain’s women making home advantage count to storm to gold at Barcelona 1992.
The most recent edition, Rio 2016, proved to be another year with unexpected winners, with Argentina men and Great Britain women – two teams ranked 7th in the world going into the competition – creating new chapters in hockey’s history books by snatching Olympic golds for the first time.
While Argentina men and Great Britain women will be determined to defend their respective Olympic titles, they will be challenged every step of the way by the world’s finest teams on the planet’s greatest sporting stage.
The hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will take place from Saturday 24 July to Friday 6 August 2021. Both the men’s and women’s competitions feature 12 teams, split into two pools of six ahead of quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches.
For more information about the hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, visit https://tokyo2020.org/en/sports/hockey/.
Hockey at the Olympic Games – a summary
All Time Olympic Placements - Men
Rio de Janeiro 2016: 1: Argentina, 2: Belgium, 3: Germany, 4: Netherlands, 5: Spain, 6: Australia, 7: New Zealand, 8: India, 9: Great Britain, 10: Ireland, 11: Canada, 12: Brazil
London 2012: 1. Germany, 2. Netherlands, 3. Australia, 4. Great Britain, 5. Belgium, 6. Spain, 7. Pakistan, 8. Korea, 9. New Zealand, 10. Argentina, 11. South Africa, 12. India
Beijing 2008: 1. Germany, 2. Spain, 3. Australia, 4. Netherlands, 5. Great Britain, 6. Korea, 7. New Zealand 8. Pakistan, 9. Belgium, 10. Canada, 11. China, 12. South Africa
Athens 2004: 1. Australia, 2. Netherlands, 3. Germany, 4. Spain, 5. Pakistan, 6. New Zealand, 7. India, 8. Korea, 9. Great Britain, 10. South Africa, 11. Argentina, 12. Egypt
Sydney 2000: 1. Netherlands, 2. Korea, 3. Australia, 4. Pakistan, 5. Germany, 6. Great Britain, 7. India, 8. Argentina, 9. Spain, 10. Canada, 11. Malaysia, 12. Poland
Atlanta 1996: 1. Netherlands, 2. Spain, 3. Australia, 4. Germany, 5. Korea, 6. Pakistan, 7. Great Britain, 8. India, 9. Argentina, 10. South Africa, 11. Malaysia, 12. United States
Barcelona 1992: 1. Germany, 2. Australia, 3. Pakistan, 4. Netherlands, 5. Spain, 6. Great Britain, 7. India, 8. New Zealand, 9. Malaysia, 10. CIS (Russia), 11. Argentina, 12. Egypt
Seoul 1988: 1. Great Britain, 2. W. Germany, 3. Netherlands, 4. Australia, 5. Pakistan, 6. India, 7. Soviet Union, 8. Argentina, 9. Spain, 10. Korea, 11. Canada, 12. Kenya
Los Angeles 1984: 1. Pakistan, 2. W. Germany, 3. Great Britain, 4. Australia, 5. India, 6. Netherlands, 7. New Zealand, 8. Spain, 9. Kenya, 10. Malaysia, 11. United States
Moscow 1980: 1. India, 2. Spain, 3. Soviet Union, 4. Poland, 5. Cuba, 6. Tanzania
Montreal 1976: 1. New Zealand, 2. Australia, 3. Pakistan, 4. Netherlands, 5. W. Germany, 6. Spain, 7. India, 8. Malaysia, 9. Belgium, 10. Canada, 11. Argentina
Munich 1972: 1. W. Germany, 2. Pakistan, 3. India, 4. Netherlands 5. Australia, 6. Great Britain, 7. Spain, 8. Malaysia, 9. New Zealand, 10. Belgium, 11. Poland, 12. France, 13. Kenya, 14. Argentina, 15. Uganda, 16. Mexico
Mexico City 1968: 1. Pakistan, 2. Australia, 3. India, 4. W. Germany, 5. Netherlands, 6. Spain, 7. New Zealand, 8. Kenya, 9. Belgium, 10. France, 11. E. Germany, 12. Great Britain, 12. Japan, 14. Argentina, 15. Malaysia, 16. Mexico
Tokyo 1964: 1. India, 2. Pakistan, 3. Australia, 4. Spain, 5. E. Germany, 6. Kenya
Rome 1960: 1. Pakistan, 2. India, 3. Spain, 4. Great Britain, 5. New Zealand, 6. Australia, 7. W. Germany, 8. Kenya, 9. Netherlands 10. France, 11. Belgium, 12. Poland, 13. Italy, 14. Japan, 15. Switzerland, 16. Denmark
Melbourne 1956: 1. India, 2. Pakistan, 3. W. Germany, 4. Great Britain, 5. Australia, 6. New Zealand, 7. Belgium, 8. Singapore, 9. Malaysia, 10. Kenya, 11. Afghanistan, 12. United States
Helsinki 1952: 1. India, 2. Netherlands, 3. Great Britain, 4. Pakistan, 5. W. Germany, 6. Poland, 7. Austria, 8. Switzerland
London 1948: 1. India, 2. Great Britain, 3. Netherlands, 4. Pakistan
Berlin 1936: 1. India, 2. Germany, 3. Netherlands, 4. France, 5. Switzerland, 6. Afghanistan, 7. Japan, 8. Hungary, 9. Belgium, 10. Denmark, 11. United States
Los Angeles 1932: 1. India, 2. Japan, 3. United States
Amsterdam 1928: 1. India, 2. Netherlands, 3. Germany, 4. Belgium
Antwerp 1920: 1. Great Britain, 2. Denmark, 3. Belgium, 4. France
London 1908: 1. England, 2. Ireland, 3. Wales, 4. Scotland 5. Germany, 6. France
All-time Olympic Placements - Women
Rio de Janeiro 2016: 1: Great Britain, 2: Netherlands, 3: Germany, 4: New Zealand, 5: United States, 6: Australia, 7: Argentina, 8: Spain, 9: China, 10, Japan, 11: Korea, 12: India
London 2012: 1: Netherlands, 2: Argentina, 3: Great Britain, 4: New Zealand, 5: Australia, 6: China, 7: Germany, 8: Korea, 9: Japan, 10: South Africa, 11: Belgium, 12: United States
Beijing 2008: 1: Netherlands, 2: China, 3: Argentina, 4: Germany, 5: Australia, 6: Great Britain, 7: Spain, 8: United States, 9: Korea, 10: Japan, 11: South Africa, 12: New Zealand
Athens 2004: 1: Germany, 2: Netherlands, 3: Argentina, 4: China, 5: Australia, 6: New Zealand, 7: Korea, 8: Japan, 9: South Africa, 10: Spain
Sydney 2000: 1: Australia, 2: Argentina, 3: Netherlands, 4: Spain, 5: China, 6: New Zealand, 7: Germany, 8: Great Britain, 9: Korea, 10: South Africa
Atlanta 1996: 1: Australia, 2: Korea, 3: Netherlands, 4: Great Britain, 5: United States, 6: Germany, 7: Argentina, 8: Spain
Barcelona 1992: 1: Spain, 2: Germany, 3: Great Britain, 4: Korea, 5: Australia, 6: Netherlands, 7: Canada, 8: New Zealand
Seoul 1988: 1: Australia, 2: Korea, 3: Netherlands, 4: Great Britain, 5: West Germany, 6: Canada, 7: Argentina, 8: United States
Los Angeles 1984: 1: Netherlands, 2: West Germany, 3: United States, 4: Australia, 5: Canada, 6: New Zealand
Moscow1980: 1: Zimbabwe, 2: Czechoslovakia, 3: Soviet Union, 4: India, 5: Austria, 6: Poland
All-Time Olympic Finals – Men
Rio de Janeiro 2016: Belgium 2-4 Argentina
London 2012: Germany 2-1 Netherlands
Beijing 2008: Germany 1-0 Spain
Athens 2004: Netherlands 1-2 Australia (aet)
Sydney 2000: Korea 3-3 Netherlands (aps 4-5)
Atlanta 1996: Spain 1-3 Netherlands
Barcelona 1992: Germany 2-1 Australia
Seoul 1988: Great Britain 3-1 West Germany
Los Angeles 1984: Pakistan 2-1 West Germany (aet)
Moscow 1980: India 4-3 Spain
Montreal 1976: New Zealand 1-0 Australia
Munich 1972: West Germany 1-0 Pakistan
Mexico City 1968: Pakistan 2-1 Australia
Tokyo 1964: Pakistan 0-1 India
Rome 1960: Pakistan 1-0 India
Melbourne 1956: India 1-0 Pakistan
Helsinki 1952: India 6-1 Netherlands
London 1948: India 4-0 Great Britain
Berlin 1936: India 8-1 Germany
Los Angeles 1932: No final – Round Robin
Amsterdam 1928: India 3-0 Netherlands
Antwerp 1920: No final – Round Robin
London 1908: Great Britain (ENG) 8-1 Great Britain (IRL)
All-Time Olympic Finals - Women
Rio de Janeiro 2016: Netherlands 3-3 Great Britain (aso 0-2)
London 2012: Netherlands 2-0 Argentina
Beijing 2008: China 0-2 Netherlands
Athens 2004: Netherlands 1-2 Germany
Sydney 2000: Argentina 1-3 Australia
Atlanta 1996: Australia 3-1 Korea
Barcelona 1992: Spain 2-1 Germany (aet)
Seoul 1988: Australia 2-0 Korea
Los Angeles 1984: No final – Round Robin
Moscow 1980: No final – Round Robin
Legend: aps - after penalty strokes. aet - after extra time. aso – after shoot-out.
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