Hockey at the 2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 hockey matches were played at the Olympic Hockey Centre in the Hellinikon Olympic Complex. The men played the same format they had played since 1976, with 12 teams separated into two round-robin groups of six teams followed by semi-finals. The women again had 10 teams separated into two round-robin groups of five, but this time, similar to the men, the top two teams in each group then advanced to the semi-finals and the knock-out round.

The 12 men’s teams qualified in the following manner – Korea (South) as the 2002 Asian Games Champion; Argentina as the 2003 Pan American Games Champion; Germany as the 2003 EuroHockey Nations Champion; Australia as the 2003 Oceania Cup Champion; Egypt as the 2003 All-Africa Games Champion; and seven teams from the 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Netherlands, Spain, Pakistan, India, Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa).

The 10 women’s teams qualified as follows – China as the 2002 Asian Games Champion; Australia as the 2003 Oceania Cup Champion; Argentina as the 2003 Pan American Games Champion; the Netherlands as the 2003 EuroHockey Nations Champion; South Africa as the 2003 All-Africa Games Champion; and five teams from the 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Japan, Spain, New Zealand, Germany, Korea [South]).

Australia won the men’s tournament for the first time, after their women had won three of the last four gold medals. Australia defeated the Netherlands in the final, with the Dutch women also losing the gold medal match, against Germany.