The women's field hockey tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics was the 9th edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held over a thirteen-day period beginning on 29 July, and culminating with the medal finals on 10 August. All games were played at the Riverbank Arena within the Olympic Park in London, United Kingdom.

Defending champions the Netherlands won the gold medal for the third time after defeating Argentina 2–0 in the final. Great Britain won the bronze medal by defeating New Zealand 3–1.

Competition format The twelve teams in the tournament were divided into two pools of six, with each team initially playing round-robin games within their pool. Following the completion of the round-robin, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the semi-finals. All other teams played classification matches to determine the final tournament rankings. The two semi-final winners met for the gold medal match, while the semi-final losers played in the bronze medal match.

Qualification Each of the continental champions from five federations and the hosts Britain received an automatic berth. The European, Asian and Oceanian federations received one extra quota based upon the FIH World Rankings at the completion of the 2010 World Cup. In addition to the three teams qualifying through the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, the following twelve teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, competed in this tournament.

DatesEventLocationQuotasQualifier(s)Host nation1 (4)13–24 November 20102010 Asian GamesGuangzhou, China2 (5) (8)20–27 August 20112011 EuroHockey ChampionshipMönchengladbach, Germany2 (1) (3)2–11 September 20112011 African Olympic QualifierBulawayo, Zimbabwe0—6–9 October 20112011 Women's Oceania CupHobart, Australia2 (6) (7)14–30 October 20112011 Pan American GamesGuadalajara, Mexico1 (10)18–25 February 2012Olympic Qualification Tournament 1New Delhi, India1 (12)17–25 March 2012Olympic Qualification Tournament 2Kontich, Belgium1 (16)25 April – 5 May 2012Olympic Qualification Tournament 3Kakamigahara, Japan1 (9)Invitational1 (2)Total12

– South Africa won the African qualifier tournament but gave up their automatic berth on the premise that they should play a qualifier as they deemed the African tournament as sub-standard. Eventually they won the Qualification Tournament 1. Instead, Argentina was invited as the highest ranked team not already qualified after the conclusion of the continental championships. Argentina ended up being the runners-up.

Umpires The FIH announced the list of umpires on 3 January 2012:

Squads

Results All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00)''

First round Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) head-to-head result.

Pool A

Pool B

Fifth to twelfth place classification

Eleventh and twelfth place

Ninth and tenth place

Seventh and eighth place

Fifth and sixth place

Medal round

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

GK 1 Joyce Sombroek DF 13 Caia van Maasakker DF 21 Sophie Polkamp DF 28 Merel de Blaeij MF 9 Carlien van den Heuvel MF 17 Maartje Paumen (c) MF 19 Ellen Hoog MF 24 Eva de Goede FW 10 Kelly Jonker FW 18 Naomi van As FW 23 Kim LammersSubstitutions: FW 4 Kitty van Male FW11 Maartje Goderie FW 12 Lidewij Welten 27 Marilyn Agliotti DF 30 Margot van Geffen Manager: Maximiliano Caldas

GK 1 Florencia Mutio DF 5 Macarena Rodríguez DF 21 Mariela Scarone DF 26 Silvina D'Elía DF 27 Noel Barrionuevo MF 4 Rosario Luchetti MF 18 Daniela Sruoga MF 8 Luciana Aymar (c) FW 12 Delfina Merino MF 30 Josefina Sruoga FW 11 Carla Rebecchi Substitutions: FW 7 Martina Cavallero MF 16 Florencia Habif MF 17 Rocío Sánchez Moccia FW 19 María Paz Hernández Manager: Carlos Retegui

Statistics

Final ranking

Goalscorers

References

External links

Official FIH website Schedule