Ice hockey at the Olympic Games
Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since the 1920 Summer Olympics. The sport moved to the Winter Olympic Games program for the first Winter Games in 1924. A women's ice hockey tournament was added to the Olympic program for the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Between 1920 and 1968, the Olympic hockey tournament was also considered the Ice Hockey World Championships for that year.
Participating nations
The following table shows the nations that have participated in Olympic ice hockey. For each Games, the final rank of each team is shown, or "–" if the team did not participate that year. Blank regions in the table indicate that the nation did not exist with that designation at that time.
Men
| Nation | 20 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 48 | 52 | 56 | 60 | 64 | 68 | 72 | 76 | 80 | 84 | 88 | 92 | 94 | 98 | 02 | 06 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia (AUS) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
 Austria (AUT) |
– | – | 5 | – | =7 | 7 | – | 10 | – | 13 | 13 | – | 8 | – | 10 | 9 | – | 12 | 14 | 12 | – | 12 |
 Belarus (BLR) |
– | 7 | 4 | – | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
 Belgium (BEL) |
=6 | 7 | 8 | – | =9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
 Bulgaria (BUL) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
 Canada (CAN) |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | – | – | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 19 |
 Czech Republic (CZE) |
=5 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| Czechoslovakia (TCH) |
3 | 5 | 5 | – | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 16 | ||||
 Finland (FIN) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | – | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 14 |
 France (FRA) |
=6 | =5 | 5 | – | =9 | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | – | – | – | – | 11 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 14 | – | 10 |
 Germany (GER) |
– | – | 8 | 3 | 5 | – | 6 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | ||||||||||
| West Germany (FRG) |
8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 10 | |||||||||||
 East Germany (GDR) |
– | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||||||||||
 Great Britain (GBR) |
– | 3 | 4 | – | 1 | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
 Hungary (HUN) |
– | – | 11 | – | =7 | – | – | – | – | 16 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 |
 Italy (ITA) |
– | – | – | – | =9 | 8 | – | 7 | – | 15 | – | – | – | – | 9 | – | 12 | 9 | 12 | – | 11 | 9 |
 Japan (JPN) |
– | – | – | – | =9 | – | – | – | 8 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 12 | – | – | – | – | 13 | – | – | 8 |
 Kazakhstan (KAZ) |
– | 8 | – | 9 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
 Latvia (LAT) |
– | – | – | – | =9 | – | – | – | 9 | 12 | 3 | |||||||||||
 Netherlands (NED) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
 Norway (NOR) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | – | – | 10 | 11 | 8 | – | 11 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 11 | – | – | – | 9 |
 Poland (POL) |
– | – | 8 | 4 | =9 | 6 | 6 | 8 | – | 9 | – | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | – | – | – | – | 13 |
 Romania (ROU) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 12 | – | 7 | 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
 Russia (RUS) |
4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
 Slovakia (SVK) |
6 | 10 | 13 | 5 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
 Sweden (SWE) |
4 | 4 | 2 | – | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | – | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 19 |
 Switzerland (SUI) |
5 | 7 | 3 | – | =9 | 3 | 5 | 9 | – | 8 | – | 10 | 11 | – | – | 8 | 10 | – | – | 11 | 6 | 14 |
 Ukraine (UKR) |
– | – | 10 | – | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
 Unified Team (EUN) |
1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 United States (USA) |
2 | 2 | – | 2 | 3 | – | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 19 |
 Soviet Union (URS) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||||
 Yugoslavia (YUG) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 9 | 11 | 10 | – | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | |
| Total Teams | 7 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 12 | |
Women
| Nation | 1998 | 2002 | 2006 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada (CAN) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
 China (CHN) |
4 | 7 | – | 2 |
| Finland (FIN) |
3 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Germany (GER) |
– | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| Italy (ITA) |
– | – | 8 | 1 |
| Japan (JPN) |
6 | – | – | 1 |
| Kazakhstan (KAZ) |
– | 8 | – | 1 |
| Russia (RUS) |
– | 5 | 6 | 2 |
| Sweden (SWE) |
5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Switzerland (SUI) |
– | – | 7 | 1 |
| United States (USA) |
1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Total Teams | 6 | 8 | 8 |
Medalists
Men
The ice hockey competition was initially dominated by teams from Canada, who won 6 of the first 7 tournaments. Canada's medal count suffered in the decades to follow, which saw more and more top players drawn into professional hockey, excluding them from Olympic eligibility. The team withdrew entirely during the 1970s, and did not send a team to the 1972 or 1976 games. The team's fortunes improved by the 1998 Nagano games, when professionals were allowed to play. This also led to the improvement of teams such as Sweden and the USA, which also had large numbers of professional players.
The era without professional players (ending by 1998) was dominated by the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union first participated in the Winter Olympics in 1956, they were immediately successful, and would win 7 gold medals in the nine appearances of the nation. Including the successor teams of the Unified Team in 1992 and Russia since 1994, Soviet or ex-Soviet hockey teams have won 12 medals (8 gold) in 14 total appearances.
Women
The women's tournament has been dominated by teams from Canada and the United States, who typically would only ever lose to each other and therefore, win gold and silver at every women's hockey tournament. Sweden broke this trend with a surprise defeat of the United States in 2006 to claim the silver medal.
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 Nagano |  United States |
 Canada |
 Finland
|
| 2002 Salt Lake City | Canada |
United States |
 Sweden
|
| 2006 Turin | Canada |
Sweden |
United States
|
Medal table
This is the all-time count of medals won in ice hockey at the Olympics, including both men's and women's tournaments.
| 1 | Canada (CAN) |
9 | 5 | 2 | 16 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) |
7 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | United States (USA) |
3 | 8 | 2 | 13 |
| 4 | Sweden (SWE) |
2 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 5 | Czech Republic (CZE) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Great Britain (GBR) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 7 | Unified Team (EUN) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) |
0 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 9 | Finland (FIN) |
0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 10 | Russia (RUS) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | Switzerland (SUI) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 12 | Germany (GER) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| West Germany (FRG) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
References
- International Olympic Committee results database
- Official reports from each Olympic Organizing Committee
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| Women's events | ||
| Summer sports |
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| Winter sports | |
| 2026 addition | |
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