Field hockey at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Field hockey at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing will be held over a fourteen day period beginning on August 10, and culminating with the medal finals on August 23. All games will be played at the hockey field constructed on the Olympic Green.

Competition format

Twelve teams will compete in both the men's and women's Olympic hockey tournaments with the competition consisting of two rounds. In the first round, teams are divided into two pools of six teams, and play follows round robin format where each of the teams plays all other teams in the pool once. Teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. At the end of the pool matches, teams will be ranked in their pool according to the following criteria in order:

• Total points accumulated
• Number of matches won
• Goal difference
• Goals for
• The result of the match played between the teams in question

If teams cannot be separated using these criteria, a penalty stroke competition will take place to determine rankings.

Following the completion of the pool games, teams placing first and second in each pool advance to a single elimination round consisting of two semifinal games, and the bronze and gold medal games. Remaining teams compete in classification matches to determine their ranking in the tournament. During these matches, extra time of 7½ minutes per half is played if teams are tied at the end of regulation time. During extra time, play follows golden goal rules with the first team to score declared the winner. If no goals are scored during extra time, a penalty stroke competition takes place.

Competition schedule

Field hockey at the 2008 Summer Olympics
August			8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
																	W	M

 

Round robin matches

Classification matches

W

Medal games - Women

M

Medal games - Men

Participating nations

Men

The pools were released on 18 April 2008 and were based on the world rankings.

Pool A  Belgium  China  Germany  Korea  New Zealand  Spain

Pool B  Australia  Canada  Great Britain  Netherlands  Pakistan  South Africa

Women

The pools were released on 5 May 2008 and were based on the world rankings.

Pool A  Australia  China  Korea  Netherlands  South Africa  Spain

Pool B  Argentina  Germany  Great Britain  Japan  New Zealand  USA

References

1. XXIXth Olympic Games Tournament Regulations - Men's and Women's Hockey Competitions
2. FIH releases pools for Men’s Olympic Hockey Tournament
3. FIH releases pools for Women’s Olympic Hockey Tournament

Links

• Official FIH website

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.