Everything We Know About Field Hockey At The Olympics

The 2020 Olympics were, of course, postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of writing, the pandemic is still ongoing, but several vaccines are rolled out, and the worst appears to be behind us. Organizers of the Olympics and the government of Japan are confident the event can be held this year; it’s scheduled to start on 24 July and end on 6 August.

We’re optimistic that the Olympics will be able to go ahead this summer, even if some changes have to be made and some restrictions in place. In this post, we’ll run you through what we know about field hockey at the 2020 Olympics. Anything can happen from now until the Olympics starts, but here’s where things stand as of mid-March.

The Basics

Here are some basic facts about field hockey at this year’s Olympics:

• Number of Events: 2 (a men’s tournament and a women’s tournament)
• Number of Teams Competing: 24 (12 for each tournament)
• Venue: Oi Hockey Stadium in the Tokyo Bay Zone
• Venue Capacity: 15,000
• Dates: 24 July – 5 August (men’s tournament), 24 July – 6 August (women’s tournament)

Participating Countries

For each tournament, the twelve teams are split into two groups of six. The countries competing in the men’s tournament are as follows:

The countries taking part in the women’s tournament are listed below:

As you can see from the tables above, most of the countries are competing in both tournaments. There are only four that are taking part in a single one: Belgium and Canada are competing in the men’s tournament only, while China and Ireland are only taking part in the women’s tournament.

Match Dates

We’ve already mentioned that both tournaments start on the 24th and that the men’s finishes the day before the women’s. Here’s a full summary of the dates for each of the tournaments, starting with the men’s:

• Group stage matches: 24 – 30 July
• Quarter-finals: 1 August
• Semi-finals: 3 August
• Bronze medal and gold medal matches: 5 August

As for the women’s tournament, the dates are as follows:

• Group stage matches: 24 – 26 and 28 – 31 July
• Quarter-finals: 2 August
• Semi-finals: 4 August
• Bronze medal and gold medal matches: 6 August

Teams to Watch

Of the competing teams, which are the ones to watch? There are three countries in particular that have performed well at previous Olympics: Australia, Germany and the Netherlands.

Australia won gold at the 2004 Olympics field hockey tournament and won bronze in both 2008 and 2012. As for Germany, the country won bronze in 2004 and 2016, and managed to win gold across two consecutive Olympics (2008 and 2012). The Netherlands won gold in 1996 and 2000, while also winning silver in 2004 and 2012.

Then there’s the winner of the 2016 Olympics: Argentina. The country has competed in field hockey at several Olympics in the past – the first was way back in 1948 – but never placed higher than 5th until they won gold. This shows that even though some countries have fared better than others, any team can still win gold, which makes watching the Olympics all the more exciting.

Women’s field hockey debuted at the Olympics in 1980 and the team to watch is the Netherlands. The country scooped gold in both 2008 and 2012, while earning silver in 2004 and 2016 and bronze back in 1996 and 2000. In fact, at every Olympics from 1996 onwards the Netherlands team have won a medal in women’s field hockey. Therefore, there’s a good chance the team will at least walk away with a medal at the 2020 Olympics. Having said that, nothing is guaranteed and you never know what may happen on the day.

The current gold medallists are the Great Britain team. Whether Great Britain manages to hold onto its gold medal for women’s field hockey at the 2020 Olympics remains to be seen.

Whichever team(s) you decide to back, there’s no denying that men’s and women’s field hockey will be well worth watching when the 2020 Olympics finally comes round!