Dates July 20 – 31, 1980 | ||
Venues Central Dynamo Stadium
Young Pioneers Stadium | ||
Hockey at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by two events: men's team event and women's team event. For the first time a women's Olympic Games hockey tournament was organized. Both events were held in two venues, located in the north-western part of Moscow:
Contents
The schedule started on July 20 and ended on July 31. The 33 matches of hockey events at stadiums were watched by 177,880 spectators.
Men's Tournament
In the Preliminary Pool, all six teams played against each other in a single round-robin tournament. Then teams placed 1st and 2nd contested for gold and silver medals; placed 3rd and 4th contested for bronze medals and placed 5th and 6th contested for 5th place.
Qualification
The original plan was for a twelve-team tournament, divided into two round-robin groups of six, with the top two of each qualifying for the semi-finals. The teams would have been:
Argentina, Great Britain, India, Kenya, Netherlands, Pakistan
Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Soviet Union, Spain, West Germany
However, nine of the twelve teams withdrew as part of the U.S.-led boycott in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Argentina, Kenya, Pakistan, Malaysia, and West Germany boycotted completely, and while Australia, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and New Zealand competed in some sports, their hockey governing bodies pulled out. The organising committee reduced the competition to six teams, with Cuba and Tanzania representing the Americas and Africa in place of Argentina and Kenya respectively, and Poland also drafted in as the next best team from the 1978 Men's Hockey World Cup.
Women's Tournament
A women's tournament was held for the first time in Olympic history. Six teams played a single round-robin tournament.
Qualification
In 1980, there was an International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) separate from the mainly male Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH). Because the FIH was the international federation affiliated to the International Olympic Committee, it supervised the Olympic tournament. The FIH and IFWHA agreed that qualification for the Olympics would be decided by a joint FIH–IFWHA committee based on the results over the previous two years, including the 1978 (FIH) and 1979 (IFWHA) women's world championships. Five teams were chosen to join the host Soviet team, namely the Netherlands, West Germany, the United States, New Zealand, and Great Britain (taking the place of Wales, England, and Scotland, who finished 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively in the 1979 tournament). However, all five teams withdrew as part of the U.S.-led boycott in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the U.S. and of West Germany boycotted completely, and while the other three NOCs competed in some sports, their hockey governing bodies pulled out. The organising committee sent out invitations to other countries to make up numbers. Ireland controversially declined an invitation.