Hockey, Women

Like the men’s tournament, the women’s Olympic hockey competition was plagued by the Western boycott of the Olympics. Teams were originally selected based on the results of the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations (IFWHA) 1979 World Cup. The qualifiers were the Soviet Union, Netherlands, West Germany, United States, Great Britain, and New Zealand, but all of them (except the USSR) either boycotted Moskva 1980 or refused to send a hockey team. The Moskva Organizing Committee then invited teams further down the results from the 1979 World Cup: Australia, Argentina, Japan, Belgium, and Canada, but they all also boycotted. Austria, 7th at the World Cup, Czechoslovakia (9th), and India (13th) did agree to compete and then Poland agreed to send a team. With only three weeks until the opening of the Moscow Olympics, organizers invited Zimbabwe, which was not even a member of the International Hockey Federation, to send a women’s hockey team, and they agreed.

Of the six participating teams, only Czechoslovakia had played at the much depleted 1978 World Championships (9th), while Austria had played at two earlier World Championships. The most remarkable entry was that of Zimbabwe, which (as Rhodesia) had been banned from the Olympics in 1972 and 1976 due to the apartheid regime, which had ended in April 1980. The team had first met in May, being made up of players with an English background (such as twins Sonia Robertson and Sandy Chick). Their captain and coach was Anthea Stewart, who had played internationally for South Africa. Zimbabwe was not officially admitted to the International Hockey Federation until after the Games, but none of this kept the Zimbabweans from a major upset. Three victories and two draws were enough to secure the young country’s first ever Olympic medal, and it was a gold.